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�Preface
The stories collected in this book retell the experiences of refugees as
they leave their homelands and settle in the United States. While
some of the problems they encounter during the resettlement
process are severe, the purpose of this collection is not to criticize
particular agencies and institutions, which provide many beneficial
services to the community, but to bring greater awareness to difficult
situations.
Although not many refugees from Burma are resettling in Lowell
anymore, all other refugees who are currently coming to the U.S. are
facing similar challenges. Considering this situation, this book is
written with three goals in mind. Our first goal is to point out gaps
in the refugee resettlement system so that responsible stake
holders, especially policy makers, will have a chance to look into
the current system and make changes to serve new refugees better
in the future. The long-term support for refugees, which is the postresettlement program, will need to be in place for refugees to
become self- sufficient. Secondly, we will provide some of the
refugees’ background information as well as their needs so that
service providers will have a better understanding of the refugees’
challenges and can try to find ways to serve refugees better. Lastly,
this book not only intends to record the refugees’ stories before
they fade away from their memories, but also to help future
generations learn about their histories, identities, and how their
ancestors struggled and sacrificed for their future generations to
have better lives.
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�1
Acknowledgement
I personally would like to thank all the community members who
generously contributed their time, stories and pictures for the book.
Adult refugees wrote their own stories in Burmese, which I translated
into English, while the refugee youth wrote their stories in English.
I am also very grateful to Professor Susan Tripathy from the Sociology
Department at UMass Lowell for helping with everything from
editing to applying for the grant to publish the book. Huge thanks
also to Nyan Lynn, a Burmese master journalist student at the
Emerson College for helping with all the formatting and layout for
the book.
My appreciation also goes to the Indochinese Refugee Fund for
giving us the grant for this book publication. This fund was
established by the former Indochinese Refugee Foundation (led by
UMass Lowell Political Science Professor Emeritus Hai Pho and
Center for Diversity and Pluralism Director Emeritus Tuyet-Lan
Pho), and is currently administered by the UMass Lowell Center for
Asian American Studies, co-directed by English Professor Sue J. Kim
and Psychology Professor Ivy Ho.
James Aung
Lowell, MA
(February, 2017)
© 2017 All rights reserved.
©
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�
STORIES FROM SAYDANAR
Introduction
Between 2007 and 2016, about 300 refugees from Burma
resettled in Lowell, Massachusetts. The majority are ethnic Karen
and Karenni from the Eastern parts of Burma. They were traditionally
farmers, living very rural lives in the most underdeveloped parts of
the country.
These ethnic parts of Burma are resource rich, which has
resulted in armed conflict for up to 60 years (since the British handed
over independence) between the Military Burmese Government and
ethnic rebel groups. As a result there are over 150,000 refugees living
in nine border camps across Thailand, and thousands more who are
undocumented and working as illegal migrant workers.
Many refugees have lived in these refugee camps for over 25
years, including many who were born there, with no freedom of
movement, and no right to work in the camp. The United States has
resettled up to 150,000 refugees within the last eight years. Although
grateful to have security and a future for their children, the refugee
populations from Burma face many challenges to fit into the new
system and culture.
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�After eight months to one year’s support by resettlement
agencies in the U.S., refugees are expected to have reached a point of
economic self-sufficiency. Many are illiterate, having never attended
school or attended only primary grades; many have skills only in
farming or traditional customs such as weaving; very few speak
English; and the majority have never lived even in a city in Burma,
let alone a large city like Lowell in the U.S. Achieving self-sufficiency
in this time span is a challenge.
SayDaNar recognizes the need for continued support to the
community with specific cultural and language bridging, to help all
generations acquire necessary coping strategies for life in the U.S.
and to reduce the psychological stress and frustrations of cultural
adaptation. The community from Burma has a lot to offer a cultural
and artistic city such as Lowell, and with the right support,
encouragement and empowerment will be able to richly contribute
to the present cultural, social and economic environment of the city.
SayDaNar supports self-learning, education and growth – seeing the
community not as subjects of charity, but as individuals who via
effective access to information are able to support themselves and
their families and choose the best course of action for their lives in
the United States, and to contribute to their new city of Lowell.
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�Personal Stories of Adult Refugees from
Burma currently living in Lowell
Zaw Aung
I lived in Taung Gyi City, Shan State in Myanmar. My father
ran a goldsmith business to feed our family. I am the third son out of
eight siblings in my family. My father worked alone and was able to
feed all our 10 family members. Even though we were not rich, we
were able to live comfortably and attend schools. However, when
the currency money was de-monetized by the military government
in 1985, our family became disordered and my father also died.
As for me, after my father died, I quit school and started
working. I sometimes worked as a goldsmith and sometimes worked
as a mechanic as I was struggling with the life until the military took
a coup in 1988. I became one of the armed group members.
Besides the military government, there is nothing that I do
not like about Burma. I love and like everything. When I was living
inside Burma, even though I have never faced any physical abuses,
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�I would have to say it affected our mental health. Because our family
became chaos after the currency money was de-monetized and the
coup. I really hate the military government and left Burma since
1988 and have never gone back since then.
How should I say for a refugee? We were in a jungle in ThaiBurma border where the armed groups lived. The military accused
the villagers of supporting the armed groups and destroyed their
villages, and those villagers came to live with us. In 1996, it
officially became a refugee camp.
Since then until I came to the U.S. in 2012, the years that I
lived in the refugee camp were exactly 16 years. In the beginning of
becoming as a refugee, living places and food were getting better.
After 2006, when the UNHCR brought the refugees who worked in
cities to the camps, we faced many difficulties in the camp. The
camp that I lived in is as big as a small town so I would have to say
it is quite a big one.
The problems were reduced ration food, reduced materials
to maintain houses and not being allowed to go out of the camp. Due
to not having enough food for the family, we went outside of the
camp illegally to work near the Thai villages under very cheap
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�wages to support the families. In the beginning, I would say with the
permission of the Thai government’s personnel, the camp authority,
we were allowed to work about one week or 10 days.
However, the transportation fee could eat up all of our wages
that we earned for a week or 10 days, so we went out and worked
illegally. Because I went out illegally, if I were arrested, the ration
food would be cut. The daily wage there was, if calculated in dollars,
about 5 or 6 dollars maximum.
Both health and education were pretty good in the camp.
Even though the clinic in the camp could not afford to have a full
time doctor, there were health care providers who were able to
perform quite a lot and lived in the camp as well as two or three cars
to transport patients to a hospital in the city. We didn’t have to pay
to use them.
We had to pay a little for education; for example, the
traditional custom fee, such as the entrance fee, teacher fee, etc.
With regard to the refugee camp, there was nothing to like about it.
Nothing was ok and there was no freedom due to having to live
under the Thai military.
We always had to look at their face whatever we did. The
most difficult thing in the camp was the future for the children
because the education from the camp wasn’t recognized anywhere.
Because the education was not guaranteed, it was so difficult for
families when they didn’t have a chance to resettle and go to a third
country. The children’s future was getting worse when many families
didn’t have the opportunity to resettle in the third country.
The decision to come to the U.S was for the future of my
children. We thought even if my children didn’t finish their education,
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�at least they would be able to go to college and learn from a world
standard education. We thought that would be the best we could give
them as a parent. Therefore, we tried our best to resettle.
It took 8 years for me to resettle in the U.S. When we were
notified to arrive in the U.S. on September 11, 2012, our family was
so happy. We gave away all our belongings from our house and
killed animals that we had at home to celebrate and have a farewell
party. Some were happy and some were crying.
The disappointment began when we got to Quincy,
Massachusetts. We were really depressed because on the night that
we arrived, the organization that sponsored our family left a chicken
and a fried rice box in the refrigerator for our family of six and left
us for one or two days. The worst thing was their office was in
Boston, but we lived in Quincy. It was not very easy in the beginning
due to the language barrier as well as the transportation difficulty.
The office was very far from where we lived so we had to
take the subway and buses. Whenever we went to the office, we had
to spend the whole day. They only gave us $10 or $20 when we went
there. We are a family of six but the rice cooker was so tiny and it
wasn’t enough for us. My wife’s niece from Lynn brought a rice
cooker for us so we gave her the small one.
Our case was transferred to the Lowell office but the Lowell
office didn’t help us very much either. We were told that we had
signed the lease for six months. We weren’t informed until the lease
was signed. We were planning to go to Oregon because my friends
asked me to move over there. However, we were told that we would
not receive any welcome money if we moved. So we requested to
move to Lynn where my wife’s niece lives but they moved us to
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�Lowell. We didn’t have any bed.
We didn’t have a blanket or a mattress. Before we moved,
we were told that everything was set up in Lowell and not to bring
anything. However, when we arrived in Lowell, the apartment had
nothing--no blanket and no mattress. We slept like that for almost
two weeks. Finally, we got mattresses from a family who just got
here and moved to Minnesota. We picked up his family’s mattresses.
I saw the different treatment among different refugee communities.
When some Iraqi refugees came, everything was set up almost
perfectly. However, when refugees from Burma came, we don’t
even have food that we eat even though the case manager was an
Asian. It began to get better after we moved to Lowell. We have
people from the same country here as well as SayDaNar organization.
After getting food stamps and Medicaid, as we became
settled in the U.S, I started looking for a job. I started working on
April 4, 2013, at the laundry company in Haverhill. I forgot
everything to start a new life. As of today, it has been over three
years. Children are able to learn their education. If we don’t
understand things, SayDaNar organization helps to solve the
problems so even though we don’t speak, read and write the
language, we are not disappointed.
Since we can be rest assured for our children, we only need
to move forward in our lives peacefully. Therefore, we are very
grateful to all the organizations and the U.S government for arranging
us to resettle in the U.S. There is nothing that I don’t like in the U.S.
Since every opportunity has been given, I think we only need to take
the action to do it. I like everything because I know that I can live
anywhere if I know how to live.
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�Le Say
I lived in a village with my parents until I was 11. I’m not
sure if that village was in Karen State or not. After I left, I never
went back to that village. When I lived with them, they sent me to
school. We only have elementary school in our village. We worked
in a farmland for our living.
About one month after our father died, there was a battle
near our village. Some weapons fell in our village so we had to run.
Our village was located near a small stream. Everybody ran, and so
did I. I couldn’t see anyone. I hid in a hole on the sand near the
stream where I used to play with my friends. After the battles, when
everything became quiet, I came out.
My family was so worried about me because they couldn’t
find me so they thought I was killed. When they found me, they
were so happy and beat me up with a stick. After my father died, no
place made me happy. I didn’t have any place to go either. One
month after that, when my elder sister came back to Karen State, I
followed her. I was allowed to stay to the end of middle school.
When I was taking grade 6 exam, I took the exam in a jungle
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�under a tree because we ran away from our village due to the fighting.
I got malaria and was very sick when I took the exam. My teacher
asked me to go home but I refused to go because I didn’t have
enough time coming to school. Sometimes, we have 2 days or 3
days of school in a week. Sometimes, if the situation was not good,
we had to hide in a jungle.
The medication was so bitter and made me dizzy. Sometimes,
I was thinking back, and I thought we almost died. We didn’t have a
clinic, no medications. We heavily relied on home remedies for any
sickness. One time, I was very sick and fainted but nobody was near
me. One of my friends, when she had fever, her body was so hot so
we placed some banana leaves on her chest as well as on her back to
release the heat.
When I lived in the Karen State, we had to walk one whole
day to go to where food was stored. We went as a group. We left
when the sun rose, around 6 am, and walked through jungles,
climbed mountains up and down until we reached where the food
was stored. By the time that we got there, it was already dark. Then
the next morning, we carried rice and walked back to our village.
I worked as a schoolteacher in a village for one year. I only
had 2 students in my class. Families were not able to send their
children due to difficulties. Families who lived a little far from the
school couldn’t come to the school because they didn’t have an
umbrella in the rainy season. They didn’t have a raincoat or shoes.
We had to clean an old fish paste sack to use as a raincoat.
After Manalplaw fell, it was around 1994 and 1995, we
didn’t have a permanent place to stay. We moved here and there and
hid here and there. I wasn’t personally tortured but I have seen those
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�things. I had to run when the enemies came, move when there were
battles, and run from the battles and bullets. We ran from the village
to the jungles without having food and places to sleep. Nothing was
good since we had to live in a jungle.
The sound of shootings was behind us. We were not sure
where were the shootings and bombings, we just ran. When we were
hiding in the jungle, we were a group of people, families, relatives
and friends. For food, we tried to carry some rice that we had. We
cooked the rice with a small pot and made soup with some vegetables
that we could find in the jungle. We tried to inquire where it would
be safe for us and traveled there.
Before we were able to build a hut for us, we placed leaves
on the ground and slept on them. Things were getting worse and
worse. It became the worst in 1997. I like the natural and the
traditional culture, the religions that we ethnic groups believe in.
However we faced unfair treatment from civil war. They
tortured us, killed us. They burnt our houses. They destroyed the
paddy fields. They came during harvesting time and put fire on the
paddy fields and burnt all the rice stocks. Sometimes, we even had
to cook corn.
They gave us so many kinds of troubles. Due to the civil war
and the conflict, our living was in trouble. For example, I know a
girl who now lives in Minnesota, when she was about over 1 year
old, her parents went out with a group of about ten for grocery
shopping at another village to feed their families.
On their way back home, they met with Burmese soldiers
and everyone, all women and men, were arrested. Her father’s neck
was cut and he was killed. They were detained somewhere near the
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�border. Finally, they were able to find ways to escape and her mother
came back to her daughter. However, since the mother got back, she
was sick all the time until she died. The daughter was left with her
grandparents.
It took us about one month to get to the refugee camp.
During our journey, our food ran out so we had to ask for food
from villages on the way. Sometimes, we even had to boil corn and
ate this. We were left behind because we were trying to take care of
some people who were more vulnerable than us.
Some people who knew where the refugee camp was had
gone first. Nobody was able to help each other. We didn’t know
where the refugee camp was and were wondering and looking for
the refugee camp for three days along the river on the Thai Burma
border. One day, someone found us and took us to the refugee
camp. When we crossed the river, my sister and her daughter, who
was only one month old, were almost drowned.
My sister suffered a lot from the harsh journey. After
delivering her baby she wasn’t able to stay warm and got wet in rain.
Since we got to the refugee camp, I never had a chance to return. I
wasn’t able to return either. Sometimes, I was thinking about it and
I didn’t understand. We had to run and run and I didn’t know why
we had to run. Did we run because other people ran?
We slept without mosquito nets so many of us were bitten by
mosquitos and got malaria. My elder son was always sick. He also
got malaria, which he was treated for only when he got to the camp.
Both of my sons have different issues. With my elder son, I carried
him all the time and breastfed him whenever he was hungry.
However, I had to leave my younger son when he was young.
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�Before we came to the U.S., my youngest son was sick and
hospitalized. We were given the date to travel to the U.S. but the
flight was postponed because of his condition. We had to wait 6
more months. My younger son was malnourished because I wasn’t
able to stay home to breastfeed him when he was young.
We lived in the camp for 15 years. In the camp was a food
warehouse, health care clinic, school, camp committee, security,
youth organization and women’s organization. The camp that I
lived in had 15 sections. Each section had about 150-200 people. I
think the total population was over 15,000. We got enough food.
The foods that we got were rice, cooking oil, bean, chili, fish paste,
canned fish and salt. Those foods were distributed by NGOs such
as MHD and ZOA.
Due to the need in the school, I had an opportunity to work
as a teacher. I worked for 10 years. During the first 3 years, I got 300
bhats per month, which is probably 9-10 U.S. dollars. After that, I
got 500 bhats per month until 2008. In 2009-2010, based on the
teaching subject and the years, I got 760 bhats. There are two
elementary schools, one middle school, four high schools, KYLMA
and NKJC. The main subjects that are taught in the schools are
English, math, Karen language, Myanmar language, history,
geography, and science. The rest is arts and crafts. Recently, the
Thai language is also taught in the schools.
For healthcare, there is a laboratory, hospital, clinic, and
maternity clinic. Those are all free. The difficulties that we faced in
the camp was the affect on our health due to mosquitos and sand-fly
bites, and because of not enough clothes, blankets, mosquito nets,
and other materials. We had no food for nutrition. There is no
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�opportunity to go out to earn money. Therefore, we got into trouble.
Due to many difficulties, we decided to come to the U.S. for
our children’s future when the U.S. called for resettlement.
International Organization for Migration (IOM) helped us to come
to the U.S. and gave a medical check up. For elderly people, disabled
people and people with chronic diseases, a nurse accompanied them
from the camp to the U.S. Because of the language barrier, a person
was assigned in the airport to help refugees. Finally, we arrived in
the U.S.
In the beginning, we met with our case manager. We felt sad
because everything was new: language, houses, place and location.
We couldn’t think of how to build our lives. Even though, I knew
that everyone had more or less their own difficulties, I felt as if I
didn’t have the ability. However, when I met with other people, they
told me about their experience when they got here. I was glad to see
friends, people who helped us.
The biggest difficulty is the language because we can’t read
and write. However, I got a job because of friends and people who
are here. I was happy because I was able to overcome 50% of the
difficulties. In America, everyone has the same rights. The ones who
live here are kind and have good will. You have opportunity to work
as much as you would like to. I like those things. For that, I greatly
appreciate it.
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�Key Meh
When I was in Burma, we worked in a farmland for living.
We had family and relatives there so they came to help when we had
work. We also had a school but it was only at the elementary level.
Because we were illiterate and not educated, we had to work on a
farm. The best thing I like about it was we were able to live in our
own house, our own space in our town in our own country. Due to
various conditions of the country, the ruling of the Burmese
government is not good.
It will be endless to talk about how the Burmese government
and the Burmese soldiers bullied us. We felt as if whether we lived
or died, nothing would make a difference, so we wandered in jungles
wherever they took us, and finally ended up getting to the refugee
camp, which we didn’t even know existed. We lived in the camp for
10 years. Life in the camp was just like that. We built a hut for our
family with wood and bamboo that was distributed by the
organization in the camp. Rice, oil, beans and salt were also given
but we had to be frugal in order to get through the whole month. If I
have to talk about it, there will be a lot.
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�The most difficult thing was not having security for our lives.
We worried about it too much. The camp is a big one but I don’t
know the measurement. I never have asked the number of families
or people in the camp. I heard other people say it but I forgot. Food
was distributed by an organization; I would say a world organization.
Sometimes, it was enough for the whole month but sometimes it
wasn’t. The people who have education can work in the camp, like
a schoolteacher or a health worker. I used to work as a schoolteacher.
When I started working, the salary was 500 bahts, and then it was
increased by the years of working. When it is 10 years, the salary
will be up to 800 bahts. 500 bahts is $16.66 and 800 bahts is $26.66.
For health, we had a clinic. If we had a regular illness, we
went to the clinic. If too serious, the clinic sent us to a hospital in a
city. However, it didn’t work out well. There were so many people
who died, but who shouldn’t have died. There was no doctor in the
hospital. We didn’t have to pay money. Compared to my village, I
liked the camp because it was clean, had health care for children and
a little education.
There were schools and the system was memorizing.
Children went to school. The Thai authorities were very scary. What
I didn’t like is we were not allowed to go out of the camp. I felt as if
we were detained in a detention center. The thing that made us so
stressed out, was that illiterate people could not do any work so they
did not have enough to support their families. People became what
they should not have become.
Therefore, I decided to come to the U.S. When I came to the
U.S, I came with an interpreter on the way. But there was no
interpreter when I got in the U.S. So I showed the IOM bags that I
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�had with me, then a security officer accompanied us. After that the
ones who would help us came to pick us up with their cars.
I didn’t know what happened in the beginning in the U.S. I
didn’t know the direction, east or west. Sometimes, I felt as if I was
dreaming. I didn’t know anybody. I didn’t speak English. I didn’t
know what to do. Getting around was also difficult. I didn’t know
whom to contact. I had never used the stove in the apartment where
I lived. I was so worried if I used it wrong. Later on, when I got to
know the people who came before me, I asked them to help me. I
started my new life gradually.
When we met with the caseworker, we were told to call when
we need help. We didn’t have a phone yet that time. After we had a
phone, we called them when we needed. When I called, the phone
was never picked up. I was told not to call during working time.
When I called after work, I was told that it was their personal time
and didn’t pick up the phone. I didn’t know what time to call. It was
worse when we got sick. We didn’t know where to go. I didn’t know
the hospital or the clinic.
When I got to know the places, I didn’t speak the language
and didn’t have a car. When we met with the caseworker, we talked
to him about it. Our caseworker asked us why we came to an English
country if we didn’t know anything, and if we only came to give
trouble to other people. The caseworker also said that in this country,
they only care about children but not elderly people, and to learn by
ourselves for everything. If we needed to go to an office or a hospital,
we needed to be able to go by ourselves. The longest they,
caseworkers, took care of us was from the beginning to a month.
After one month, they had nothing to do with us.
19
�The caseworker never showed us where and how to apply if
we didn’t get health insurance and food stamps. We were so stressed
when we didn’t get those benefits. We didn’t have food stamps and
health insurance because we didn’t speak the language and we didn’t
know what to do. We only got health insurance for 8 months after
our arrival.
Food stamps were only given to kids who go to school.
Sometimes, some people from an organization, I didn’t know which
organization, came to visit our apartment. They opened the
refrigerator. We didn’t know what they were talking and asking
about. We guessed that they might be asking the name of our
caseworker so we told them the caseworker and the agency name.
They looked here and there and then went back. Because our
caseworker told us not to open the door to anyone if we didn’t know
them, and if we opened the door and something happened, they
won’t take any responsibility, so not only us, but all the Burmese
were so scared.
When my family was in Texas, we never felt safe. We saw a
lot of killings and robberies. One Karenni youth was killed outside
of his apartment. We lived at the same apartment. His relatives were
coming to visit his family from another state, and couldn’t find the
place so they called him to wait outside. Somebody shot him when
he was waiting for his relative outside of the apartment.
When the police came, they said that he wasn’t a citizen so
there was nothing that they could do about it. Another Burmese
Muslim from our apartment was also shot in his knee when he was
sitting and chit chatting with his friends at his balcony. A car drove
by and shot at them. When one Chin student came back from school,
some people hit him with a rod on his head. He was admitted to a
20
�hospital for a week.
One of my Karenni neighbor’s car was hit by a Bhutanese
car, and they both argued and were about to fight. When 911 was
called at around 1pm, the police came over around 3pm. When
police officers came over, they didn’t even come close. The police
officer also told them not to come closer. They stood from the other
side of the street and shouted to inquire what happened.
Many Karenni students dropped out of school because they
were struggling in the school because of the language barrier. They
didn’t want to go to school so they pretended that they went to school
in the morning, and came back in the afternoon along with the other
students. We didn’t know where they were wandering the whole
day. I never stopped worrying until my sons came back home. Even
though I was afraid, and knew that it wasn’t safe to go out at
nighttime, I was determined that even if I had to die, I was going to
look for them until I found them.
With regard to America, it is very good for opportunities.
However, I am very worried for my children because if they can’t
take all the opportunities, it could lead to the worst life. Another
thing is if you don’t speak English, you lose so many opportunities.
Now, we would say it was getting better after arriving in Lowell,
Massachusetts.
However, I still lose many opportunities and benefits because
I do not speak English. I really want to learn to speak English. The
school has a speaking class but it doesn’t fit with my work schedule.
It always is one thing or the other missed. What worries me the most
is whenever I think about the funeral expenses and the cemetery to
bury me in when I die.
21
�Peter Nyint
I was born in Loikaw Town. Back then, the Burma Socialist
Programme Party ruled the country. I was the eldest son in my
family. The year I was born was 1960. I grew up in Pruso Town after
my parents moved from Loikaw to Pruso. I studied from grade 1 to
grade 4 in Pruso Town. After I passed grade 4, I moved to Taung Gyi
City to continue my study. The school is called Seminary. I studied
from grade 5 to grade 10 at that school. I dropped out of school after
I failed grade 10. After I quit the school, I started working as a
missionary. I tried to apply to a civil servant position but I didn’t
pass the interview. What I like the most about the system was the
affordable commodity prices. For example, a sack of rice was only
22 kyats.
My family has 7 sons. During the Burma Socialist Programme
Party, porters were taken from my family because of having too
many boys. Even though I was never taken, one of my brothers was
always taken as a porter. That is the thing that I dislike the most in
Burma. Therefore, I moved to Karenni Revolutionary Area in 1985.
I served as a schoolteacher in the area. That time, the refugee camp
22
�was not established yet in Karenni Revolutionary.
Only later on, Karenni refugee camp was established. In the
Karenni refugee camp, the fixed monthly salary for the Elementary
school teachers was 300 bhats, the middle school teachers 400 bhats
and the high school teachers for 500 bhats. After the Karenni refugee
camp was officially recognized, salaries for teachers were given
according to their years of working by an NGO called JRS. I served
as a school teacher for 27 years in the camp.
Due to the frequent Burmese military attacks to the Karenni
Revolutionary area, the Karenni people couldn’t stay there anymore
so they crossed Thai land and formed a Karenni refugee camp in
Thailand. I lived in the refugee camp for 24 years. The most difficult
thing in the camp was not being allowed to go outside freely.
Karenni camp 1 and Karenni camp 2 were demarcated. I
guess the population was over 20,000. Food and living spaces were
given for families in the camp so it was enough for daily needs.
However, there was no extra. We were allowed to work in the camp.
I worked at the education department as a teacher and earned 950
bhats. I do not know about the exchange rate to U.S. dollar.
There is a clinic in the camp and there are health care
workers. We didn’t have to pay when we went to the clinic to get
treatment. There are schools in the camp from elementary to high
school. Every school-aged child is allowed to study. The education
system in the camp is very similar to the system in Burma. However,
the Karenni language was the extra subject.
When we were living in the camp, we had to be afraid of the
Thai authorities. Thai soldiers, who guarded the camp, beat me
when I came back in the night after visiting other places. I decided
23
�to come to the U.S. because we were not allowed to go out freely. I
lived happily in the beginning of arriving in the U.S., because I
didn’t have to be afraid of the Thai military, police and the Burmese
military.
My family of six came to the U.S. on the 1st of April, 2009.
That time, the caseworker placed us in an apartment. We didn’t
know any other Burmese family. In the beginning, the caseworker
fed us chicken and bread. We ate like that for 2 weeks. After that, the
caseworker gave us $80 so we went to a shop and bought the food
that we were familiar with, rice and curry.
However, it wasn’t enough so we requested the caseworker
again. The caseworker said that we had to buy food with the $80.
Even though we said it wasn’t enough, the caseworker refused to
give us more. After a while, he gave us $80 one time, and $120 one
time. We had to buy food for our family. Our family received a food
stamp card only after 2 months. Things were getting better because
we were able to buy food with the food stamp card.
Then, one of my daughters got hit by a car and admitted to a
hospital. I had to go to the hospital in Boston to look after my
daughter for 8 months. I was very worried and sad. During that time,
I wasn’t able to eat home food. I ate whatever food that the hospital
fed me. Later on, a Baptist pastor heard the news and came to see
me. He gave me $500. Only that time, I was able to go to a shop and
ate the food that I like so it was getting better.
However, transportation was not good. I was able to go back
to see my family only once a month because it was the time that I
didn’t know how to get around. I could even say Rev. Maung Maung
Htwe is my benefactor because while I was taking care of my
24
�daughter in the hospital, he helped me with money and food. Even
though my daughter came back from the hospital, she fell off from
the bed and broke one of her legs. We had to admit her in the hospital
again.
I am the head of household but because my daughter was in
the hospital, I wasn’t able to work. I went to a local agency for about
one year to learn English. Therefore, the food stamps benefit was
continued for us. After that, I started working. Since the year that I
started working, the food stamps benefit was reduced because it was
said that my salary was getting higher after working. Sometimes, the
food stamps benefit was cut for one or two months. We had to send
the documents to request it and had to apply again. After that, the
food stamps benefit was allowed.
However, it was not like before. My eldest daughter wasn’t
in my household list so I had to contact the food stamps office to fix
it. The food stamps office added my eldest daughter but they took
out my youngest son so I had to contact the caseworker again. The
benefit was getting less and less because we had been living here
almost 7 years. Now, the food stamps benefit was only $19 for a
month. If it is not enough, we have to spend our money to buy food.
My daughter became 19 years old so she is not eligible to receive the
food stamps benefit. I like the health benefits in the U.S.
25
�Philisato Kawhla
My name is Pilisato Kawhla and I was born on April 12,
1991 to a poor family in Myanmar. I did not have a chance to live
longer with my parents because when I was just seven years old,
they sent me to a boarding house for my education. I moved to
Thailand because of the instability of political situations in Myanmar.
There were a lot of violations, torturing, human rights abuses and
forced labor in Myanmar. Most people got out of the country for
jobs, security, and education.
So, I arrived in Thailand in April 2006 as a refugee. Then I
went to school until I graduated from Karenni Post Ten in 2011.
After that I was teaching at a Karenni high school as a volunteer for
two years. Then I married Teresal JoeJar as my forever partner on
July 12, 2012, and my daughter was born on December 19, 2012.
After my daughter was born, I tried to find my specific future for my
family. As everyone knows, there is nothing more important than
family. I am the man who has to build the future for my family. I
could not imagine my family’s future living in a refugee camp
forever, because there were no opportunities, security or freedom.
26
�Nobody wants to leave their family, but I had to because I had to try
for my family to escape from the refugee camp, and I did not have
any other way except by immigration. My wife could not go with
me because she did not have the UNHCR document registration
card. We wanted to live together forever, but we painfully had to be
apart because of the future of our family.
I arrived in the US on January 15, 2014. After I had been
here for a year, I heard in January 2015 that my daughter was
suffering from retinoblastoma cancer. Even though I heard this bad
news about my daughter, I could not do anything, and tears fell
down from my eyes. My wife and I encouraged each other to be
strong and we hoped our daughter would recover again.
Unfortunately, I did not have any chance to hug, touch, take care and
see my daughter until the day she passed away on July 4, 2015, due
to retinoblastoma cancer. Nothing is more painful than losing a
daughter. When I had lost a daughter, I did not want to lose my wife
anymore. My strongest wish is to reunite and be with my wife
forever.
Now my wife is lonely living in the refugee camp without
her daughter and husband in a scary shelter and environment. She
has to live with bad neighbors. Sometimes people undervalue and
underestimate her instead of encouraging her. She faces a lot of
disturbances by living there because most of the people there are too
rude.
Sometimes they call her as a widow, and they tell her to
marry another one, and sometimes they tell her that your husband
will not come back anymore or he will get married to another
women. In this current situation, she still can try to overcome all
27
�these disturbances, but I’m not sure that she can overcome more
disturbances in the future. Even though I hear from my wife that she
is faced with difficult situations, I cannot do anything for her.
How much pain we have for loving each other without being
together and losing a daughter. We cannot stop crying whenever we
are talking on the phone. She has a lot of depressions and pressures
by living alone with all the difficulties she is facing. Now, the doctor
said she is suffering from the symptoms of heart attack and needs to
take medicine everyday. In the beginning, I thought it was best for
my family if I came here, but everything is getting worse and worse.
I do not want to lose my wife again and I cannot let what happened
to my daughter happen to my wife.
Youth and Young Adult Stories
Ma Gret:
“The most terrifying experience I ever had.”
Have you ever experienced being a refugee in your life?
Would you want to know and learn how it feels to be a refugee? I’m
going to tell you about a refugee’s life and the feeling of being a
refugee. It is how my family and I experienced our lives since I was
born.
First of all, my parents were originally from Burma. They
moved to Thailand in 1990, because they were forced to move out
by the Burmese military without knowing where to go. They lost
28
�their homes and land, therefore they had to settle in a refugee camp
on the Thai-Burma border. It is hard to live in a horrible place facing
difficult situations.
Therefore, to be called a refugee is the opposite of an insult;
it is a badge of strength, courage and victory. They fought for better
lives. I was born as a refugee and had lived there for fourteen and
half years. Life was very tough because there was no freedom and
we couldn’t do whatever we wanted. We also did not have enough
29
�food and were told to just stay in the camp. If anyone left we would
be arrested by a Thai soldier.
In our lives as refugees, we have struggled with lots of
things, such as jobs, economics, and education. We were not allowed
to go wherever we wanted besides the camp. Can you image how
hard this would be? If you were in my place what would you have
done and how would you feel?
Secondly, my father was a teacher and my mother was a
homemaker. We did not have much income because my father was
the only one who worked in my family. Fortunately, my siblings and
I got an opportunity to study while living in the camp, however we
did not learn much English because our English teachers were not
originally English-speaking people, so their English was not fluent.
A million people have lived in the camps, and they have
faced situations similar to what my family did. Most of the refugees
have lived there for several years. Many preferred to live in a better
place, so most of them decided to make a new settlement to places
such as U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Finland and Canada.
However some of them are still remaining in the refugee
camp even though there is no way for them to go outside. They are
intending to go back to Burma to rebuild the homes and lands that
they have lost. For example, my uncle’s family and my aunt’s family
want to keep their own places.
Thirdly, as times have gone by, the UNHCR (UN Refugee
Agency) has offered protection and assistance to ten millions of
refugees to move to a different country for a better life. Therefore,
my family and I were told to apply for settlement to the U.S.
Surprisingly, we thought about it and made an agreement. So, my
30
�family and I finally arrived in the United States on April 2, 2009.
I feel like my life is getting much better here than it was as a
refugee in the camp, because I get more opportunities for an
education to make my future better. Nevertheless, I was faced with
a language barrier because I did not know how to speak English at
all when I first got here. Sadly, I felt discouraged and isolated when
I started going to an American School. It was pretty hard for me to
learn a second language, I even cried in the class because one of my
classmates made fun of me saying: “You’re stupid and you don’t
know how to talk.”
So, I was shocked and I didn’t know how to respond to him.
But I was also optimistic because I believed that I would eventually
make it one day. Although I have faced many obstacles, I’ve never
wanted to give up on things easily. In addition, I feel like I’ve been
improving my English learning skills each day while going to
school. Nonetheless, I honestly still feel scared and shy towards
other people or students while communicating with them.
In conclusion, being a refuge or an immigrant from another
country is not an easy thing to face; I would say that it is important
to learn the language before entering a new country. That would be
the best way to start. And refugees and newcomers to the new place
shouldn’t be neglected by others and should not regret going to a
new country with many opportunities.
31
�Dah Hsi
Everyone has different experiences in their life. Some are
good, some hard, some easy and some so tough that it is hard for you
to forget. There is a place where there is no electricity or other
electronic services, and not enough food to make a living. Also poor
education and on top of that, there is no freedom. That was a place
where a little girl Dah was born and grew up.
First of all, my name is Dah Hsi but most people call me
Dah, which is a short and easy name. I was born in a Thai refugee
camp. I always wanted to travel place-to-place and see the beautiful
side of another world. I am afraid to get stuck in just one place
without any freedom at all, a place where you cannot even go outside
to look for food or a job for a better life. Despite this, we had no
choice and we could not even do anything about it because we were
just a refugee people that lived under the control of the Thai
government and the United Nations. All of the food, clothes, and
education are from the helping hands of the UN organization.
My original country is Burma, which is also known as
Myanmar. Myanmar is where my parents were born and grew up.
32
�Due to civil war they had to flee from their country. They made their
living and new life in a Thai refugee camp and I was born there.
Even though I was born in Thailand, I’m not a Thai citizen, nor a
Burmese citizen.
It’s hard for us to live as non-citizens for both countries and
there is no way we can go out to other places. Both of my parents are
Karen. Karen is one of the ethnic groups in Burma. Most people
here do not really know what the Karen people are when I tell them
I’m Karen. I know it’s hard for them to understand because Burma
is just a small country, but we have so many different ethnic groups
and they all speak different languages plus different dialects.
However, the main language in Burma is Burmese.
I grew up and graduated from high school in the refugee
camp before I came to the United States. While I was attending high
school in the Thai refugee camp, I had to learn 4 different languages:
Burmese, Thai, English and Karen. It’s hard for us to speak one
language to another language but we try the best we can. I stayed in
the Thai refugee camp for 15 years and I went through so many
experiences.
I don’t regret the past where I came from because I learned
from my mistakes and I’m happy to share my experience with those
who don’t know and don’t have the same experience as me. I’m not
ashamed of myself for being a young refugee girl because I have
learned a lot from that. I came to the United States in 2010 when I
was just a 16 year old girl. Then I went to Lowell High School and
graduated from there in 2014. I’m thankful to God for all the
blessings I have received until this moment of my life. I’m proud
and happy to be who I am.
33
�Der Say
In 1991 I was born in a Thai refugee camp. I am from Burma.
My home family originally is from Burma. My parents were born in
Burma. My parents moved to Thailand at Kay Bo refugee camp. My
parents and I were living in Kay Bo camp and after five years our
village was burned by the Burmese army soldiers. We ran; we could
smell the fire and the smoke burning as we escaped with heavy
breath.
My parents and I had to run away to hide in the forest to save
our lives. It was dark. We had to stay still and we had to stay high up
on the hill. We were scared because the Burmese and Thai soldiers
were shooting at each other. This was very scary for us, but we
eventually got to a Thai refugee camp after many days.
We thought we were safe in the refugee camp but we were
not. My parents and I experienced terrible suffering imposed by a
brutal Thai military. They made it hard for my parents and we had
very little to eat. My parents and I had so many problems living that
we looked for a better place. We felt so sad and frightened because
we didn’t know that we could go when we were ready. My parents
34
�and I tried to find another refugee camp where we would be safe.
My parents and I moved to Mae La refugee camp. When we
moved to Mae La camp, I was five years old. Before this, I use to
live in the Kay Bo refugee camp where I started preschool, and then,
I suddenly had to stop. On Mae La, I had to restart preschool when
I was five years old. I had to learn three different alphabets. I had to
study Karen, Burmese, and the English alphabet language. I studied
hard to learn all three languages.
After preschool, I was going to elementary school. I had to
start first grade. I had studied seven subjects. I studied Karen,
English, science, math, Burmese, history, and geography. I studied
hard because I wanted to learn all seven subjects. Then I completed
elementary school. After elementary school, I went to middle school.
I had to start fifth grade in middle school. I was scared, I did not
want to fail.
I studied nine subjects in middle school. I studied Karen,
English, math, science, Burmese, history, geography, Thai, and the
Bible. English was my hardest subject, but I never gave up. I
continued to study hard. When we lived in the refugee camp, we had
to work hard and study hard in life. When we lived in the refugee
camp, we couldn’t go anywhere. We had to stay in the camp all day.
We were so bored and we didn’t have fun. We also felt very bad
because we didn’t have freedom.
Then, when I entered the seventh grade in the refugee camp,
I heard that our camp leader had announced that the American
government invited us to come to the United States. My parents told
my siblings and I that we were going to the United States. My
siblings and I said we didn’t want to go to the United States. We
35
�were very hesitant because we didn’t know how to speak English.
My parents told us that they wanted us to get an education. My
siblings and I said we would go to the United States, even though we
still didn’t know how to speak English. My family and I agreed to
come to the Americas. All of us applied to come to America, and in
2007, we arrived in the United States.
On our first day in America, we felt so uncomfortable
because we didn’t understand what anyone was saying and when we
got off the airplane, everything was very confusing. We felt so
isolated because we didn’t know how to get anywhere. After a few
weeks, we felt much better. Then, the horrible feeling returned
because my brothers and sisters and I had to start high school very
soon. We were extremely nervous relying on our limited English.
On our first day at high school, we felt so scared because we didn’t
know everyone. To our surprise, many of the students and teachers
helped us find our classrooms. We felt miserable because we didn’t
know anything about where we lived, or what we were studying.
But, we all studied hard in high school.
I studied hard enough to attend a program where I can get
my education and also get my career. I am now studying to be a
certified nursing assistant at Shriver Job Corps. I am also working
on completing my studies to get my high school diploma. I think
you would agree that my journey is now complete.
36
�Dahlia Paw
To start with, my name is Dahlia Paw. I was born in a very
small village in Thailand, called Mae Ler Maw, but my parents are
originally from Burma. The village where I was born consisted of
about 15-20 families. Lives there were very simple with not much
investment for a better life. The villagers work in the field on a daily
basis and feed themselves off from the farm.
The roofs of the house are made of thatch leaves and the
walls are made from bamboo. I lived there until I was 4 years old,
then my mom decided to move into Mae La camp because they have
a school and it is free. In the village, there was no school and the
villager does not even know what is the meaning of being educated.
Mae La Camp is one of the largest refugee camps in Thailand,
with more than 40,000 refugees. It is mainly composed of ethnic
Karen people (84%), the third largest ethnic group in Myanmar.
They fled following attacks by government forces against the KNU
(Karen National Union). Life in the Thai refugee camp is as boring
as it was in the village.
The Thai police forbid the refugees from going outside the
37
�camp because they do not have a Thai passport and are not Thai
citizens. When Thai police see refugees go outside the camp they
would arrest them and put them in the jail. The weekly food rations
for refugees are distributed by UNHCR (United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees) and include essential items such as
rice and oil.
Rations are only provided to registered residents who are
physically present at the time of distribution. Some people who had
Thai passports were allowed to go outside and make extra money,
and some people work inside the camp so they do not just depend on
the food given by UNHCR. As for my family, we did have a pretty
good life in the camp compared to other families who had just
enough food for each day.
In camp my mom worked for the Women Social Worker
(WSW) organization. The WSW helps single mothers who had been
displaced. They provide a house and food for the mother and her
children. As a WSW my mom made about 350 baht, which is about
12 US dollars.
School in camp was fun, even though it’s made of bamboo
and thatch because I got to be with my friends all the time. However,
I did not like the school system and how the teacher teaches. The
teacher made the students memorize what they teach and never
asked them to understand it. So most of the time students forgot
what they learned the next day.
I did not like to learn back in the camp because at the school
I went to, most of the teachers do not know how to lecture due to
lack of knowledge and education. In 2007 the United Nations started
sponsoring refugee people in Mae La camp. The following year my
38
�parents decided to come to the United States for a better education
and a better life.
At first my mom did not want to come because she was afraid
that life might be more difficult for her and my father since they do
not speak any English. However, for my brother and I to have a
better future, they were willing to face any challenges.
I moved to the United States in 2008. The first two years in
the United States were very tough due to the language barrier. I still
remember how boring it was the first day of my school in the U.S.
because I couldn’t communicate with my classmates and I did not
have any friends.
Everybody in the room only spoke English except for me
and my brother; we felt like strangers from a different planet.
Everything was different from what I had imagined, including how
people talk, act, and dress. I thought life would be easier and school
will be fun but it wasn’t. Besides this, my family encountered culture
shock, so we were afraid to go outside the house and thought police
might arrest us if they saw us going outside, since this had happened
to my family back in the Thai refugee camp.
After a year in the United States I made a new friend because
I could speak enough English to communicate with them. As time
passed on, I had overcome this struggle. However, as for my parents,
it is hard for them to learn a new language and find a good paying
job. So, in my house I play the role similar to head of household. I
am responsible for writing monthly bills, rent, and all the paper
work my family receives from the mail. I am doing all this because
my parents are trusting in me since they cannot speak the language.
At this moment I had come to realize how important education is
3
9
�and understand that it is the path to my better life.
High school was the best experience in my life because I
learned a lot about making new friends. During my high school
years, I discovered my interest in things I want to do in the future. I
got involved in after-school clubs and became part of a sports team.
Besides this, I volunteer at SayDaNar Development Center and at
the International Institute. Doing this helps me to improve my
confidence and language skills.
Last but not least, I am a sophomore student at MCC
(Middlesex Community College) and hoping to transfer to a fouryear college afterward. I want to become a nurse because I enjoy
nurturing sick people. In general I also love to help people as well.
At the moment I have to finish my prerequisite in order to get into a
nursing program at MCC. It is going to be a long and hard process
because of limited spaces available for nursing students, but I am
ready to fight for my dream and a better life.
40
�Bawi Ka Zham
“Everything I know about morality and the obligation of
men, I learned from football (soccer)”
– Albert Camus
In July of 2007, I made a list of goals I hoped to achieve for
my family and what I wanted for the lives of my five young cousins.
My ambition was unwavering, yet I prepared myself for the
possibility of many difficulties. One of these obstacles was severe
poverty.
My personal goals stood as a testament to the love and
obligation I felt towards my family. This deep commitment to
succeed for my family and myself was inspired by loss. I lost the
person whom I loved and needed the most in the world. I was twelve
years old when I lost my grandmother, living in Aasaw Village,
Myanmar. Aasaw is a small village located on a mountain ridge
without electricity, running water, and education.
Only thirty percent of children attend school. Of that thirty
percent, only five to ten percent graduate from high school I used all
45
�my strength and my need to survive by hiking 45 miles to the border
of India in order to hunt and sell what I caught to pay for school.
When I lost my grandmother, I decided to leave the country because
I could not bear to walk past the place where she was buried. Each
time I walked past was a cold reminder of my beloved grandmother’s
hope to stay alive until I grew up and could care for myself.
Even though my life was full of misery, I realized it was not
the end. My childhood may have met an abrupt ending, but instead
I began to plan for the future, for my cousins and for myself. My list
included: leaving Myanmar, going to Malaysia, finding a job and
most importantly, attending a university.
In 2008, it was time for me to leave Myanmar and go to
Malaysia. My mother was not there to take care of me, and my uncle
had five children to send to school. If I had stayed, I would have
been forced into child labor, or I would have become a soldier for
the Burmese Army. I had to leave. When I finally got to Malaysia, I
worked twelve hours a day, seven days a week. I did not have the
time, the money or the opportunity to attend school. I lived with
thirty people in one apartment so that I only had to pay fifty RM,
about fifteen U.S. dollars, each month.
Working on my own and living in a crowded apartment, I
thought of my cousins, my grandmother and of the countless times I
played soccer with my family. Thoughts of my family and my village
overwhelmed me, but also led me to stark realizations. I always
knew that I loved my family. I realized that we also needed each
other to succeed. It is impossible to score a goal for the team without
passing the ball to each other.
I sent back most of the money I made in Malaysia to my
42
�cousins so they were able to remain in school. In 2011, six students
graduated from high school in Aasaw. Five of them were my cousins!
I was very proud.
I am a firm believer that we must take turns passing the ball
and scoring the goals. They scored that goal for our community, and
I assisted them by passing the ball. I worked and I ran for the
opportunity to help my family and we won!
Many things have changed since I first played soccer with
my family, but this ideology continues to guide me today. With it in
mind, I aspire to complete the last wish on my list – attend a
university.
Knowing against all odds that I can accomplish anything I
set my mind to, I will not only attend a university, but graduate with
an engineering degree. Then, I will say thank you to my family, my
teachers, and my friends, who helped me achieve my goals.
43
�Mee Reh
My name is Mee Reh, I am 24 years old. I came from
Myanmar to Thailand as a refugee in 2010. I would like to explain
about my autobiography and educational history. English is my
second language and I am not good in reading and writing or
speaking. I attended school for 9 years in the refugee camp. I learned
how to write and read while I was living in the camp.
There are many people like me facing the same situation as
well, more than 50,000 people who live in the camp and couldn’t get
out because we weren’t allow to go out of the camp. And we never
had enough food, not enough health care and not enough education.
UNHCR provided a clinic and school for us but not enough. Back
home in Myanmar, I had not been in any situation that my parents
always complained about, because they had been ruled by a military
government.
I was only about 5 years old when my family decided to run
away from the military. After facing many difficult situations in our
life, we were looking for a better life and decided to come to the
United States. I have been attending school in the United States for
44
�4 years now. I have been learning how to write, read and speak in
English. To be honest, I couldn’t speak any English when I arrived
in the U.S. but I always pushed myself to be challenged. I speak 3
different languages (Karenni, Burmese and English).
One particularly good experience I had in my past education
is with the subject English. I love to learn English, because the
English language can change my life to live in the United States. I
really like America, because I have more freedom, healthcare and
education. I love to live in the United States.
I know by myself that I have to study hard and work hard to
be a good academic student. I always give plenty of time to learn
more and more and I am ready to challenge myself.
One particularly bad experience I had previously was that I
came to the United States very late. When I got to the United States,
I was already 17 years old and started to learn English when I was
17. That was really the worst experience I ever had studying in my
life in the United States. But I never gave up. I understand that to
start with the beginning is a good start, and it is good to have a
strong foundation.
In 2010, I started school in the United States at Lowell High
School and I loved Lowell High because I had a chance to study
with all students from across the world. It was very good to learn
with international students. I have been learning reading and writing
from high school through college.
I didn’t know that America had so many different cultures or
religions before I came to the United States. But now I truly know
and I love to present my culture. I won’t ever forget about my culture
and I won’t ever forget where my story began.
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�Say Paw
I came to the United States when I was 14 years old. I was
born and raised in a refugee camp at Thailand. However, my parents
are originally from Burma. There was nothing much that I know
about Burma since I did not live there, but I did know how we
struggled to live in the camp.
My father started to tell me his story when I was around nine
years old. At that time, I was surprised and understood right away
why my parents had to live in Thailand as a refugee people. It is not
easy to live in the camp or in the United States. My family had to
overcome obstacles both in the camp and the United States, in
different situations.
I remember my father told me that the reason why he came
to the camp was not because he wanted to. They had to flee from the
Burmese military, which came and burned their houses and land and
then killed the people who did not have a chance to escape. My
father had to run all the time and hide inside the forest until he got
to the border of Thailand. He started his new journey as a refugee
person in Thailand.
46
�Living in a Thai refugee camp was not easy. There are many
camps that were in Thailand. I believe people faced different
experiences living in the camp, but for my family, it was not easy.
The house that my family lived in was built of bamboo and thatch.
The house was not a problem to us at all, but other things could be a
problem.
For instance, the Thai government in charge of us did give us
rice and other food to eat. The thing was, that we couldn’t eat the
same food everyday. My father needed to have a job, so he could
buy us delicious food. We did not get to eat good food as we wished.
At the rainy time, my family planted vegetables and sold them to
others. That is how my family made money.
The second reason was that we could not go out and get jobs
freely in Thailand. We were just living there as refugee people, not
as residents of Thailand. We did not have permission to go outside
freely. My family wanted to be able to eat delicious food and wear
nice clothes, but we did not have the money. When we really needed
money, my dad secretly went out and found a job to work.
After my family got free from living in the camp, we came
to the United States. But we still had to face problems. My family
and I had never lived in a city. My first year in Lowell was terrible
and the major problem that we faced was language. I am sure that
my parents had to face a lot of stuff while living in Lowell.
However, as a student, I had to go through all the process of
attending school and getting to meet new friends. During my first
day of school, I felt so nervous and worried. The teacher talked to
me and I did not understand what they said. I also felt afraid while
sitting in the classroom. And I wish that I could just go back to the
47
�camp instead of living in America.
Everything got much better after two years of living in
Lowell. As a student, I learned English faster than my parents so I
used my basic English to translate for them when they had an
appointment. Sometimes, I explained to my parents about their mail.
I felt less stress when I first arrived in Lowell. It is not easy for me
to go through all this especially when I did not know any English.
However, I worked hard and tried my best in school so that I could
help my parents.
As a child, I went to school everyday but I did not get to
learn the English language. I only got to learn my native language.
For me, it is tough to live in the camp because we did not get to see
the real world. We just lived there as a survivor and we worked hard
to make our life better. When we came to the United States, it was
hard to adjust and learn new things at first.
Over time, my family got used to living here. I am glad to be
in United State because I have freedom. There is more opportunity
for us to earn money than there was in the camp. Nowadays, I still
try to learn more English and I still struggle with English grammar,
vocabulary and sentences. But I think it is much better than in the
camp.
48
�Thank you
to the children
of Saydanar
for their artwork,
which was all
completed in
preparing for the
‘‘Eat to Educate”
cultural event
during Spring,
2016
49
�50
�51
�52
�53
�54
�55
�56
�57
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�59
�Stories from SayDaNar Casework
James Aung
I came to the United States as a refugee in 2008, and was
originally resettled in Boston. I got a job, and moved to Lowell. I
saw that many refugees from Burma were struggling due to their
language barrier and lack of knowledge of the system. I started
volunteering to help them as much as I could. I went on home visits
to help them, and tried to get the families’ needs. I took them to their
appointments.
Whenever they called me, I tried my best to go and help
them. However, realizing that I couldn’t help their problems by
myself alone, I reached out to other Burmese community members
who have been here for many years. Our group tried to help and
support the refugees from Burma, and finally formed SayDaNar
Community Development Center. Here are some stories from my
experiences helping the community.
School Advocacy
When one of the community leaders, Mrs. Wah (not her real
name) told me that her family was moving to St. Paul, Minnesota, I
was so sad. I didn’t want the family to move. She and her husband
are very active and always help other people. I asked why they
decided to move to St. Paul. I was very confused because they were
doing well.
Both husband and wife had full time jobs at the same
company and they had a car, which the husband drove to their work
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�Photo - Tory Germann
everyday. Their work was more or less a 30 minutes drive from their
apartment. The family was also almost ready to buy a house and
even enrolled in Individual Development Account (IDA), through
which a family can get up to $8000: the family saving up to $4000
and the matched money from the program up to $4000, to buy a house.
The family doesn’t need to pay the money back since it is a
government program to assist refugees. Mrs. Wah told me that her
sister’s family was coming from Thailand to resettle in the U.S soon.
Her sister wanted her eldest daughter to go to a high school. Mrs.
Wah worried that her niece might not be able to enroll in the high
school here since she is almost 18 years old.
The high school here in this area doesn’t allow the registration
of any young adults who are 18 years and older. In St. Paul, however,
she said that high schools accept young adults up to 21 years. She
also said that her sister is a single mother with three children and
doesn’t speak English so she needs to support her sister because she
will be struggling in the system due to her language barrier and lack
of knowledge. I felt really bad because I wasn’t able to help very
much, and knew that the family had to restart their lives again from
the beginning.
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�The family withdrew their IDA savings account and lost an
opportunity to buy a house and moved to St. Paul in July 2014. After
a few weeks, Mrs. Wah called me to let me know that her husband
got a job at an egg farm, which was more than a 2 hour drive from
their home, so he couldn’t come back home everyday.
He stayed near his work and shared an apartment with his
colleagues, and came back home once a week. She said that her
family wasn’t very happy in Minnesota and wanted to come back to
Massachusetts. Her sister’s family from Thailand came to the U.S.
in March, 2015. Her eldest niece was able to enroll in a high school
in St. Paul and started grade 9.
I was so happy when Mrs. Wah told me that her family as
well as her sister’s family would like to move back to Massachusetts.
However, she wanted to make sure that her niece would be able to
enroll in a high school because her niece turned 18 last April. I told
her that since her niece was in grade 9, she should be able to register
in the high school here.
However, I told her that I would double check with the public
schools. I reached out to a staff from the public schools to find out
about it and I was told that the student should be fine since the public
schools should accept any student up to 21 years old. I let Mrs. Wah
know about it so she decided to come back. She asked me to buy air
tickets for her families as well as to rent an apartment for her family
and her sister family.
I bought flight tickets for the end of June, 2015 and rented a
four bedroom apartment for her family. We also set up furniture at
the apartment before they came. We went to pick them up at Boston
Logan Airport on the day that they came.
Mrs. Wah took her niece to register at the high school in the
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�middle of July, 2015. However, her niece was refused registration
because she wouldn’t be able to graduate from high school when she
turns 22. Mrs. Wah asked me for help so I contacted the staff that I
reached out to before from the public schools administrative office
and explained the situation.
I was told that the student has the right to be in the school
until she is 21. The staff contacted the high school registration office
then she asked me to tell the family to go back to register. The family
went there the next day, and the student was able to register. She
took an assessment test and was told that she would start from grade
9.
However, in the beginning of August, 2015, the student went
to the high school registration office again since she didn’t hear
anything from the high school. She was told that the High School
Headmaster refused to let her enroll due to her age, since she
wouldn’t be able to graduate at 22. I contacted the staff and explained
about the problem.
The staff said that she would contact the assistant superintendent office regarding the issue. In September, I heard back from the
staff and they told me that the assistant superintendent said that the
student would not be able to go to high school due to her age.
It was suggested that I should file a complaint to the
Department of Education (DOE). I asked the mother and the student
to see if they agreed to file a complaint. With their permission, I filed
a complaint. A staff member from DOE got back to me the next day
and asked me some questions to clarify the story. Then he said he
would contact the public school.
The next day, I got a call from the public school attorney. He
said that he looked into the case and the student never requested for
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�an appeal. I told him that the client didn’t know and just came to the
U.S. a few months ago. The attorney said that the superintendent
would take her complaint as an appeal for her case. He said the
superintendent has looked at the case and reconsidered that she
should be allowed to attend high school.
He told me to inform the student to come to the high school
to be enrolled tomorrow. The student and her mother went to the
high school the next day. Everything went well, and she was able to
start her school right away on the same day.
This has been an ongoing problem for refugee youth who
are over 18 and were denied enrollment in high school due to their
ages, not only refugees from Burma but also other refugees from
different populations. Some refugee families from Burma moved
out of state because their children were not allowed to enroll in high
school.
It doesn’t just happen in one city since I also saw some cases
in other areas as well. A refugee girl from Burma in another city also
faced the same problem when she tried to register to enroll in high
school. She was denied and not allowed to attend high school. She
was told to go to an ESL class and get her GED if she wanted to
continue her education. She asked me for help so I got involved, and
went through the same process. After my unsuccessful advocacy
with the Parent Information Center as well as the Superintendent
office in the city, I finally filed a complaint to the Department of
Education with the girl and her mother’s permission.
The girl was allowed to attend the high school after DOE got
involved. However, I received a letter from the Superintendent,
which states that the decision not to allow her to attend high school
was the right one, therefore, the girl should go to an ESL class to
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�earn her GED. What surprised me was even though I received that
letter, which confirmed their previous decision, the school also
allowed her to attend high school.
After she was able to attend high school, I got a call from
someone who is helping the African community. She said her refugee
community also faces the same problem. It is a gray area, and public
schools administrative staff make decisions based on what they
think will be the best for their schools, not what is the best for the
students. Although a staff from DOE told me that it is a law that
public schools should allow students who are under 21 to enroll in
high school, neither I nor the DOE staff could find this detail.
Unemployment benefits
Even though everyone is enjoying the summer, refugees
from Burma are struggling to pay their rent. Every year, the sewing
company that many refugees from Burma work in closes for two
weeks. Workers are asked to apply for unemployment benefits.
Depending on the years each individual has worked at the factory,
clients will get paid either for one week or for two weeks.
The ones who have been with the company at least two years
and over usually get paid for two weeks so they don’t need to apply.
However, the company closed for three weeks this last August, so
everyone who worked for the company tried to apply unemployment
benefits as no one gets paid for the third week.
The workers are given information where they can ask for
help to apply for the benefits at a local career center. They can also
apply over the phone or online. Due to being computer illiterate and
having a language barrier, clients usually go in person to the center.
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�The career center used to help clients to apply for the
unemployment benefits; however, the office doesn’t do this anymore
since a couple of years ago, due to budget cuts from the government.
The center will give a piece of paper to any one who walks in to
their office that explains how to apply for unemployment benefits
either online or over the phone. Clients will always come back to me
to apply for their benefits.
Many clients came to see me to apply for their benefits in
August. The new ones were easier. I just needed to go to the website
and create accounts and apply for benefits for them. The most
difficult cases were the ones who have applied in the past and have
accounts but forgot their passwords. It would not have been easy
even if you speak the language and have computer skills.
Calling the unemployment office is worse than a nightmare.
Whenever I call the phone number, the minimum waiting time is 45
minutes, but I usually have to wait over an hour. I keep waiting and
waiting until someone answers the phone, if I am lucky. Many times,
the line is disconnected before someone picks up the phone or while
I am talking to the staff member after waiting for almost an hour.
A client came to show me a letter that he received from his
company. When I had a look, it was an instruction about how to
apply for unemployment benefits either online or over the phone.
This client had applied for his benefits last year so I tried to help him
to log in to his account in our office computer. However, he forgot
the password of his account so he couldn’t log in.
He also didn’t remember the secret question so I had no
option but to call the call center. I am very reluctant to call the call
center because I knew that I would have to wait at least one hour. I
was right! I kept waiting for about an hour until the line got
66
�automatically disconnected.
I had to ask the client to come back the next week because
the call center closes at 4:30pm and it was already after 4pm so we
would not be able to make it. My office hours are usually in the late
afternoon on Wednesdays and early afternoon on Fridays so I can
only help them to apply on Friday afternoons.
The client came back the following week so I called the call
center again. This time, I was lucky to be able to talk to a staff
member after waiting for over an hour. I explained the problem so
the staff verified with the client over the phone and sent a link to
reset the password. Finally, I was able to help the client to log in to
his account and open a claim for his unemployment benefit. He was
notified that he would receive his benefit of over $300.
He came back after a few weeks because he didn’t receive
his benefit, which he was supposed to receive. I helped him to log
into his account and to see if he missed anything. Finally, I had to
call the call center phone number again because there was nothing
wrong with his claim. Again, I had to wait over one hour before a
staff member answered.
The staff member said that the check was sent to a wrong
address so I gave him the correct address. However, both the client
and I were confused because the client never moved to the address
that the staff member mentioned. I was also told to call a phone
number to request the check be sent to the correct address. I called
the number and talked to a staff member but he said that I was calling
the wrong department.
He told me to call the main number. I didn’t have enough
time to call the main number since it was around 4 pm already so I
asked the client to come back next week. The client has come to see
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�me to make the phone call every Friday. However, we have not been
lucky enough to talk to a staff since nobody picked up the phone
even though we waited for over an hour each time. The telephone
line was always disconnected. The client was even saying that the
government does it purposely so that people will give up applying
for the benefits. It has been almost two months already but the client
has not been able to receive his check yet.
When I met with a staff member from the career center, he
told me that now there are only three places across Massachusetts
answering all the calls. As a result, people have a very long waiting
time. He suggested to me that it was better to do it online. I explained
to him most of my clients are computer illiterate on top of their
language barrier. I asked him if his office can help when the clients
come in for help. He said the clients could use the computers in his
office and his staff could help clients and explain how to apply
online.
However, he said that he didn’t have enough staff to go
through the whole process of applying for the unemployment
benefits. Every year, many of them struggle to receive their
unemployment benefits and most of them have given up applying
due to the difficulties.
Medical Bills
One of the Burmese refugees who doesn’t speak English
came to see me today. He brought a medical bill that was for a
doctor’s visit back in August, 2015. He said he didn’t understand
why he received the bill because he had medical insurance, and he
paid the co-payment during his visit. I called the phone number on
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�the bill, and found out that it was from a specialist clinic.
I was told that the clinic needed to have a referral from the
patient’s primary care physician (PCP), which the patient didn’t
bring. I called his PCP office and requested them to send a referral
to the specialist office so that his visit could be billed to the medical
insurance. The staff member who does referrals told me that his
doctor didn’t know about the appointment, and plus it was out of the
time frame, which is 90 days, so the insurance won’t accept the
referral even if the doctor sends one.
I explained that this client was referred by his PCP to this
specialist in the past, and that is why he got a follow-up appointment.
The staff looked into the system and found out that his PCP did refer
him to the specialist back in 2014. The staff member explained to
me that the patient never came back to inform his PCP that he went
to see the specialist back in 2014.
Therefore, even when the patient got another follow- up
appointment from the same specialist in 2015, his PCP wasn’t aware
about the appointment. Now it is over the 90 days period, so the
insurance won’t pay for his visit; therefore, he will have to pay for it
from his own money. The staff member also told me that the patient
needs to come back to inform his PCP every time he sees other
doctors so that his PCP is aware of all the issues and can follow up
as needed. I feel really bad for the client because it is not his fault
that he went to see the specialist. He didn’t make the appointment
with the specialist’s office. And he didn’t know that he needed to
bring a referral or had to go back to inform his PCP about his visit.
Why did the specialist see him in the first place if he didn’t bring a
referral? Why wasn’t he informed that he has to bring a referral
when he got the appointment?
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�Even though any health care providers receiving funds from
the government are required by law to provide an interpreter for
patients with limited English proficiency, private doctors, who do
not receive funds from the government, are not required to provide
interpreters for patients. When refugees’ primary care physicians
refer their refugee patients to see specialists for further evaluation
regarding their health problems, refugee patients struggle to get the
services from specialists due to the language barrier. However,
refugees are still new to this area, and don’t know where to go. In
addition, refugees are required to bring their own interpreter. When
refugees can’t find anyone to translate for them, they simply just
don’t show up for their appointments.
If providers are able to provide interpreters, not only will the
refugees have a better understanding about their health, but also the
providers will be able to treat their refugee patients more effectively,
because the refugee patients will be able to follow the providers’
instructions. As refugees are able to evaluate their health problems
with specialists, they are more likely to be able to prevent themselves
from getting sick. Therefore, the refugees will become healthier, as
a result, their health care consumption will go down and so will their
health care expenses in the long run.
Electric bills
Recently, many new electric companies were trying to get
new customers. Their representatives worked very aggressively to
get new customers for their companies. One time, I saw one of the
sale representatives was knocking on the front door of an apartment
very hard and didn’t stop until the door was opened. I have seen the
70
�same kind of situation many times among refugees from Burma.
Each time, I had to call the electric companies to cancel their
contracts, which they didn’t even know that they had signed up for
until they received welcome letters in the mail. When they brought
those letters to me for translation, they all were very upset after they
found out the truth.
A client, who has limited English, came to see me with a
letter that he received from an electric company. The letter was
welcoming him as a new customer. He was kind of confused by the
letter because, he said, he never applied for electric service from that
company. After a short conversation, I found out that a lady knocked
on his door, and tried to talk to him in English a few weeks ago.
He didn’t understand what the lady was talking about besides
the word “electric,” because he understood the word “electric” in
her talking. He gave his electric bill because the lady was asking to
show it to her. He just said sometimes “yes” and sometimes “no”
during the conversation, even though he didn’t fully understand
what the lady was talking about.
I explained to him that the new electric company was offering
him a lower rate, compared to his previous company’s regular rate.
However, the rate that he receives from his previous company is
lower than the new company is offering because he got a discount
rate due to his income and his family size. Finally, he understood
what the lady was talking about.
I called the electric company, explained the whole situation,
and cancelled the service because the client wanted me to do so. I
explained to him that in the future if he doesn’t understand anything,
do not say “yes” or sign anything, even if he understands and doesn’t
want it. The families could have forced the sale representatives to
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�leave but they didn’t do it. On top of the language barrier, due to
coming from war torn zones and living under a military government,
many refugees from Burma are afraid to speak up for their rights.
They are always afraid to deal with anyone who has power.
Citizenship applications
Today I helped one of the clients for his citizenship
application. I still remember that he didn’t speak a single word of
English when he came to the United States in 2009. Now he is so
eager to take his citizenship. He always comes to the citizenship
class on Saturdays at the SayDaNar office. Sometimes, other people
may miss class but he never does.
He is so determined and works very hard to earn his
citizenship. Regardless of his English language barrier, he tries his
best to learn the 100 civic questions and all the information from
the citizenship application so that he would be able to pass the
interview and become a citizen of the United States. I am so glad to
have a chance to support his dream.
There are many people in the community from Burma in
Lowell. Many of them are due to apply for their citizenship.
However, not many of them are willing to study for the citizenship
test. Their excuse is that the test is so hard because they don’t speak
English. However, I don’t think it is true. They just give up learning
and don’t want to study because they think that they are too old to
learn. I can’t wait for the day that this gentleman passes the test
and becomes a citizen of the United States. He will be a very good
example for the rest of the community that it is never too late to
learn and if people work hard enough, they can achieve their dream!
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�Travel Documents
Today, one of my clients came to see me and said that he was
going to New York to pick up his travel document for a trip to
Thailand. He has never been to New York, so he is going with one
of his Karenni friends so that he won’t get lost. He has been here in
Lowell for only over a year so he is not eligible to apply for a
passport since he is not a citizen of the United States. However, he
can apply for a Refugee Travel Document to travel outside of the
country. The reason that he is going to Thailand is to see and support
his wife, who has been depressed since her daughter died. His
daughter died a few months ago due to lack of medication in the
camp.
I helped him with his travel document application at the
United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) and
visa application at the Thai Embassy in New York. When he
submitted his application, he also put a prepaid envelope for return
postage, but the embassy said that they never received the prepaid
envelope. He purchased a plane ticket and his flight is on March 9,
2016. However, I had told him that he didn’t need to buy a ticket for
his visa application, because I called the Thai Embassy to find out
whether he would need a ticket for the visa application or not. I was
told that a ticket was not required, but he bought it anyway because
his friend said he needed it.
Sometimes, people trust more the information that they
receive from their friends. In this case, he wouldn’t even need to go
to New York to pick up his document if he hadn’t bought his flight
ticket. He could have found another way to get his document back.
Now, due to his flight schedule, he doesn’t dare take a chance to
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�wait and decided to go to New York to get his document so that he
will be ready to travel by March 9th.
Proof of residency
One of my clients brought a letter from Mass Health, which
states that he and his wife need to submit their proof of residency in
order to be eligible for health insurance. The family has been here
for almost 5 years and their status has not changed. They have lived
where they were since they arrived in the U.S. They also had
submitted the same verification in the past for a few times but Mass
Health still was asking them to submit the same information again
and again.
The letter also described a list of acceptable letters for the
proof of residency, including utility bills, pay stubs from the last 60
days, mortgage or lease; but the wife has none of those. All the
utility bills as well as the lease are in her husband’s name. She used
to work but had to quit her job due to her medical condition, and
now her husband is the only person working in the household.
Therefore, she can’t provide her pay stubs either. I suggested
the husband ask his wife to go to the city hall to request a proof of
residency letter. The city issues the letter and charges $3 per person.
He can then submit this letter to Mass Health.
I have seen this kind of situation many times when clients
are asked to submit some verification to determine their eligibility
by government agencies. It is reasonable that the government
agencies will need to verify the information to determine the
eligibility. However, it is a big challenge for refugees, especially, the
newcomers, because refugees don’t have any of the acceptable
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�verification forms that are listed. It will create extra stress for the
refugees on top of all the challenges that they are facing in the new
countries.
401 K
One client, who wanted to enroll in a 401 K retirement plan,
asked me to help. She said that her company told her to call a phone
number in order to enroll in the program. She doesn’t speak English
so I called the phone number that was given to her. I explained the
situation to the associate from the financial firm and requested a
Karen interpreter. The associate asked me to verify her information
and whether I could assist with the interpretation.
Even though I requested an interpreter, he didn’t call an
interpreter but went back and forth with me to verify my client’s
information. I told him that I don’t speak the client’s mother tongue,
so finally, he told us to hold while he was trying to get an interpreter.
When the interpreter came on the phone, he spoke the language that
we didn’t understand, so I intervened and asked the interpreter what
language he speaks.
The interpreter said that he speaks Korean so we told him as
well as the financial representative that we were looking for a Karen
interpreter, not a Korean interpreter. I had a feeling that this would
happen because the representative didn’t pay attention when I was
telling him the name of the language. From my experience, it
happens a lot because Karen and Korean are very similar, plus most
of the people are more familiar with Korean, but not Karen.
The representative told us to hold so we waited. We were on
hold for a while but didn’t hear anything, and finally we found out
that he hung up on us. We were so frustrated with the situation but
75
�we didn’t have enough time to call back again. I asked my client to
come back next week to call the financial firm again.
The following week, she came back so I called the same
phone number, and got a representative from the firm on the phone.
I explained to her that my client wanted to enroll in the program and
needed a Karen interpreter. She told us to wait and called a Karen
interpreter right away. She got a Karen interpreter and was able to
help the client. Finally, the client was able to enroll in the program.
Even though a company has the same rules and policies, it still
depends on employees who provide the services directly to the
clients. For example, from the experience with this financial firm,
even if it is required for employees to provide language support for
any client who has the language barrier, some employees don’t want
to provide it because it is not convenient for them. This makes it
much harder for the clients.
Specialist referral
Today, I helped one of my clients who has been referred to a
specialist. She came to show me a letter from her health clinic,
which states that she needs to call the specialist’s office to make an
appointment. The client doesn’t speak English and doesn’t know
where the specialist’s office is.
I called and made an appointment for her, and then translated
the paper and explained to her where she needs to go, and gave her
the address so that her husband can take her there. I also requested
an interpreter for her so that she will have no communication barrier
when she meets the specialist, and better understand what is going
on with her and what kind of follow up she will need to do
76
�afterwards.
In the past, the clinic staff called and made appointments for
patients, then informed the patients about their appointments.
However, they stopped doing it. I called the clinic staff member who
refers patients to specialists the first time, and I found out that clients
received letters to call the specialist’s office to make appointments.
I asked how could the clinic expect their patients to call to make an
appointment.
The staff said the specialists’ offices didn’t allow the clinic
staff to make appointments anymore because many patients that the
clinic booked didn’t show up, so the clinic lost money.
That is the gap that we have in the system. Patients will be
unlikely to call and go to see the specialists due to the language
barrier and not knowing where to go. Then what will happen? Their
primary care physicians may think that the patients have gone to see
the specialists.
The ones who suffer will be the patients. Their health
problems may become worse and some clients may end up going to
emergency rooms and staying in hospitals. As a result, not only may
they may lose their income, but also our health care spending will
increase. We could have prevented this kind of unnecessary cost, but
it is not happening.
Gastrointestinal (GI) Test
at the Lowell General Hospital (LGH)
Today, one of my clients came to show me his GI appointment
letter from a hospital. The letter explains in detail what the patient
77
�needs to do before the test. According to the letter, my client will
need to go and get three different over the counter medications.
Then he will need to mix them and drink it several times during the
night before the test.
He is also not allowed to eat or drink until his test is done the
next morning. It really surprises me that the provider thinks the
patient will understand the procedure. I also assume that his primary
care physician will request an interpreter for his appointment,
therefore, the provider at the hospital should know his English level.
In addition, it is not his first GI appointment because when I was
trying to explain about the complicated process, he told me that he
already went there for the GI test in the past.
However, the provider couldn’t do the test because he didn’t
drink the liquid, which needs to be mixed with medication. Without
using an interpreter to explain the procedure, how is the patient
going to understand clearly what he needs to do before the test?
Even if he understands what he needs to do, how he is going to get
all the three different over the counter medications from a pharmacy?
Even if he gets all the medication, how is he going to make sure that
medication is mixed properly and he drinks it accordingly? If he
fails any of these requirements, the provider will not be able to
perform the test again when he goes for his appointment. That will
have a negative outcome for the patient, the hospital and finally even
the government. The hospital will also lose its revenue. The patient
will not be treated and followed up on as needed in a timely manner,
which may have a negative impact on his health.
Therefore, the government may have to spend more for his
well being in the future. All these things could have been prevented
by simply making a nurse visit before the test, ordering all the
78
�medication to be ready in the office, and explaining to the patient
how to mix it and how often he needs to take it. Then the patient will
have a very clear understanding about the procedure and will be able
to follow the instructions. Then the test could be done without any
problem.
This is not my first experience. I had a very similar situation
with a different client in the past who called me and said that she got
a call from a phone number, however, she didn’t understand. She
asked me to call back that number to find out what it was all about.
When I called the phone number, I was told that she had a GI
appointment at the hospital and needed to pick up medication before
the appointment. She has been in the U.S. for a few months and
speaks no English. Besides, she had no idea where the hospital was.
I had to take her to the hospital and pick up the medication, and
explain to her how to take it. Finally, she was able to make it for her
appointment. About 90% of the refugees from Burma came from a
rural area. Everything here is so different from where they came
from. Preventive care is not something that the refugees ever
practiced in their lives until they came to the U.S. They never go to
see a doctor unless they are sick, therefore, having tests to find out
what is going on with their bodies is uncommon practice for them.
Moreover, due to the language barrier, clients are reluctant to
seek help even if they are sick. Refugees already have stress due to
all the challenges in the new country. On top of that, the language
barrier also causes stress for refugees because of not being able to
express and communicate with others effectively. Many preventable
health problems are not prevented in refugee populations due to a
gap in the system, which is caused by the communication barrier.
79
�Youth Volunteer
Recently, I got a Karenni youth volunteer to help me with
casework. He is studying at Middlesex Community College (MCC)
now. When he came to the U.S. six years ago, he was only 19 years
old. However, he wasn’t allowed to go to high school due to his age.
He was told to go to adult education, where he registered and studied
for almost four years.
I told him in the beginning that he should go to MCC,
because he finished grade ten in the refugee camp. I explained to
him that even if he was not allowed to study at the college level, he
could start at the ESL level, and then he could eventually move up
to the college level. However, he didn’t have enough confidence to
go to college so he remained in adult education.
Last year, I talked to him again about going to MCC. I told
him that he didn’t have to pay for his tuition fee since he would be
eligible for financial aid. This time he listened to me, so I showed
him how to fill out a financial aid application. I also told him to go
to MCC to take a placement test. He finally went there, and took a
placement test.
Then when the semester began, he started with an ESL class
and a math class. Since then, he has been at MCC. Now, he is getting
into college level courses and starting to choose his major. I am very
glad that he is going to be in college, and even going to a university
when he graduates from MCC. I was also able to recruit a Karen
youth who is studying at MCC. They both have been helping me to
assist families.
80
�We can all be together!
Today, we cleaned the SayDaNar office. We didn’t have a
chance to organize all the stuff in the new office since we moved in.
I asked some community members to help with the cleaning. Most
of the community members who come to volunteer at SayDaNar are
from different ethnic groups from Burma. Moreover, they all have
different religions. Some are Buddhists, some are Christians and
some are Muslim.
Most of them have never had a chance to meet people from
different ethnic groups for a long enough time to get to know them
until they came here. Even now, they may still be within their
groups most of the time, but they always come together when I ask
them to help with any of the SayDaNar events. It seems like
SayDaNar serves as a common place for all of them to come
together. They talk, make jokes and laugh while volunteering
together for SayDaNar. It is very nice to see them getting along
and working together.
We have eight main ethnic groups in Burma. A civil war has
been going on between the majority Burmese and other different
minority ethnic groups for over half of the last century. There are
also tensions among ethnic groups. Sometimes, even the ethnic arm
groups fight each other. We all suffer from the civil war regardless
81
�of which ethnic group we belong to.
People, for sure, have different personalities, and it will be
very difficult to bring everybody together. However, if we are given
a chance and enough time to get to know each other, I am sure we
can definitely find ways to live together. If we can get along with
each other here, why not in Burma?
It is very important to understand that the process is more
important than the outcome. Everyone prefers the best result.
However, in my opinion, without being able to bring everyone in the
group together, we are unlikely to get the best result even if we get
grade A. Besides, without respecting each other, we will not be able
to work together. How do we define the best result?
Is getting grade A without the bonding among the students in
the group better than getting grade B with the bonding among the
students working together to achieve the same goal or vice versa?
People have different personalities and expectations. We can’t
expect everyone to be the same.
We all need to find ways to compromise with each other to
be able to work together. It is also very important for us not to judge
other people without knowing what is going on in their lives. We
need to be aware that different people have different skill sets and
weaknesses. Things that can be easily accessible for someone may
not be easy for other people.
Refugees from Burma are struggling in Lowell. They have
difficulty becoming self-sufficient due to the language barrier and
not being able to navigate the system. Since there is no other
agency that provides long-term support for refugees from Burma to
become self-sufficient in Lowell, the services that they receive
from SayDaNar make their lives much easier. They will not feel
abandoned and hopeless but supported because there is a place that
they can always go for help.
82
�Many of them really appreciate it, and are willing to volunteer
to support SayDaNar whenever they can. It is a place where every
ethnic group from Burma in Lowell comes and works together, and
gets to know each other better. If everyone is given a chance to get
to know each other, I am sure most of us will have better
understanding about others; therefore, our society will be more
peaceful. There will also be less burden on the whole society as
individuals become self-sufficient.
Because of SayDaNar, other organizations in Lowell that
have been struggling to support new refugees, due to the new
languages as well as new culture, get to know more about the
refugees from Burma as well as these refugees’ needs. Therefore,
these organizations are able to find ways to serve the refugees from
Burma. As a result, both sides: the providers and the refugees, will
benefit, as well as the society as a whole.
SayDaNar is a community-based organization. We do not
have any budget to run SayDaNar. Our community members come
together to raise funds that we need for SayDaNar by selling
Burmese food at the Burmese Food Fair, Lowell Folk Festival and
Southeast Asian Water Festival. We especially rely on UMass Lowell
volunteer students to run our afterschool program, which is mutually
beneficial for both the refugees and the UMass Lowell students.
As a student at UMass Lowell, I am very grateful to have a
chance to combine my volunteer work with my education. I am
also happy to raise awareness about refugees from Burma in
Lowell. It has been a great pleasure to see the connection between
UMass Lowell and the communities in Lowell. As this connection
grows, both UMass Lowell and the communities can benefit from
each other. In the future, I would like to see UMass Lowell have
more collaborations with different communities in Lowell.
83
�Burmese Refugees
Face Challenges in
Their New Homeland
By Nyan Lynn
LOWELL - When she heard the news that
her family was chosen and granted
permission to go and settle in the U.S., Le
Say was overjoyed and excited, not
knowing what to expect in her future
homeland.
She saw the brutalities of the
military junta back in Karen State in the
eastern part of Myanmar (formerly
known as Burma). Worried about the
future, she left her village and fled to
Thailand in 1997.
84
�Photo - Nyan Lynn
In Thailand, she stayed at a refugee camp. After
staying there for 17 years, she moved to the U.S. with her
husband, children and two sisters.
Life in the U.S. is not as smooth as she expected.
“I was so depressed and downhearted as everything is
quite different from the place I came from,” said 37-yearold Le Say.
85
�Le Say said one of her biggest challenges in the U.S. is not
knowing English.
“As I don’t know this language, I’m still facing a lot of
problems,” she said in her apartment in Lowell, a 45-minute
commuter rail ride from Boston, Massachusetts.
Le Say is not alone. There are thousands of Burmese refugees
in the U.S. for whom English is a big challenge, said aid workers.
“They don’t speak the language. So, language barrier is very,
very challenging for them,” said James Aung, Executive Director of
Saydanar Community Development Center which is helping
Burmese refugees in Lowell.
“Even though they know or they can go to the place, but they
can’t communicate.”
In addition to language problems, refugees have difficulties
integrating into the U.S. culture and navigating its government
systems.
Due to the fighting between the government army and ethnic
armed groups, tens of thousands of ethnic people fled Myanmar and
stayed in refugee camps in Thailand and Malaysia for years. Some
stayed there for more than twenty years before coming to the U.S.
Many others continue to live in the refugee camps, waiting to
be able to settle in other countries while living on food handouts
delivered by humanitarian agencies.
The nature of Burmese refugees is also a barrier to integrating
in a new culture, said Meredith Walsh, Executive Director of
Worcester Refugee Assistance Project (WRAP).
“By and large, they are a shy, introverted community. So they
don’t necessarily go out to make friends with the Americans. When
Americans try to speak to them, they might feel shy,” said Walsh who
86
�has been helping Burmese refugees for years.
Another problem with some refugees is that they are
traumatized because they saw atrocities back in their country.
They still have nightmares.
“I still have fear of SPDC (the junta) in the dream,” said Key
Mhe, 54, who moved to the U.S.
She and her family fled to Thailand in 2000 together with
other villagers from her area in Kayah State, in eastern part of the
country.
While older people like Key Mhe often feel nostalgic
regarding the place they came from, younger people do not find it
hard to embrace the U.S. culture.
Nga Reh, 22, is one of them. He was born and bred in a
refugee camp in Thailand. He did not know how the outside world
looked like.
When he heard he and his family were granted permission to
settle in the U.S., he did not know what to expect exactly. He said he
expected his new home would be much different from the camp
where all of the houses are made of bamboo and thatched roof, but
he wasn’t prepared for much else.
“I was so surprised. There are many buildings here that I
hadn’t seen before,” said Nga Reh in an office of WRAP. “I’m very
fortunate to be in the developed country.”
After being in the U.S. for more than seven years, he is quite
familiar with American culture and he is going to college.
He even has a dream to keep his community safe and secured.
“I want to be a police (officer) one day,” he said with
confidence.
(Note: This story was written for Visual Storytelling Class at Emerson College.)
87
�3
2
88
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
SayDaNar Community Development Center. Our Journey to the American Dream, 2017
Description
An account of the resource
The SayDaNar, Our Journey to the American Dream collection consists of the PDF version of the book, <em>Our Journey to the American Dream</em>. Published by SayDaNar Community Development Center, the book is a collection of stories retelling Burmese refugee experiences of leaving their homelands and settling in the United States. <br /><br />The collection is completely accessible on this site.<br /><br />View the collection finding aid for more information, <a href="https://libguides.uml.edu/uml18" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://libguides.uml.edu/uml18</a>.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
SayDaNar Community Development Center. Our Journey to the American Dream, 2017. UML 18. Center for Lowell History, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA.
Relation
A related resource
The collection finding aid, <a href="https://libguides.uml.edu/uml18" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://libguides.uml.edu/uml18</a>.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Our Journey to the American Dream book, 2017
Subject
The topic of the resource
Burmese Americans
Refugees--Southeast Asia
Description
An account of the resource
"Our Journey to the American Dream" book is a collection of stories retelling Burmese refugee experiences of leaving their homelands and settling in the United States. Each story includes at least one photograph from the writer. The book also includes a section showcasing hand drawn artwork from "the children of Saydanar," according to the section description.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
SayDaNar Community Development Center
Aung, James
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
SayDaNar Community Development Center. Our Journey to the American Dream
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
SayDaNar Community Development Center
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017
Rights
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UMass Lowell Library makes this material available for private, educational, and research use. It is the responsibility of the user to secure any needed permissions from rightsholders, for uses such as commercial reproductions of copyrighted works. Contact host institution for more information.
Language
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English
Type
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text
Coverage
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Lowell, Massachusetts
Format
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application/pdf; 1 book
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uml18_ourjourneytotheamericandream
2010-2019
Books
Burmese
Refugee resettlement
-
https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/37070/archive/files/8d6c1e26df219d7c20b2adff4de1283d.pdf?Expires=1712793600&Signature=H2T9gD5AmJ5sMg8CzH60pgXfMld4pL0o2lpIe7igv74FkkoAvcUVNeJpBDYNZYYZHKRZG8N%7E85rgG4hp7xrPr8LghKIDApZWZ-MkwofNEpTqIVSOa2TYKEzNuVuhEjqj%7E6qk1OqmKqtWCXJ6AzOxai3cMdNk4azFtJtXUHPePMDLnN%7Ee9uONHro51PtS3RuTpaxihHjP%7ElgBgzPKPGC7d2tlOooGubqj2pVniJ-TrF-UwF4KYOnM368Q2pjn-tUH9CSWX0EA1uFrUWxXxU2ujnXQ1yKD%7Ei9CNRQnaqI-PhKxJleCDzedtya8cA26XU-aYDxAcQNHPK4KAS758LeTCg__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
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PDF Text
Text
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• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
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Cambodia's Children of War
·~
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James Higgins and Joan Ross
Foreword : Sova nn-Th ida Loeung
Introduction : Tuyet-Lan Pho
Essay: George Chigas
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�Copyright © 1997 by James Higgins and Joan Ross
All rights reserved . No part of this boo k may be reproduced
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any
information storage or retrieval system, without the written
permission of the authors and publisher, except where
permitted by law.
ISBN : 0-931507-10-3
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing
Book design by Higgins & Ross
Photography by James Higgins
Tae Kwon Do photo courtesy of Rady Mom
Printed by Mercantile Printing Company
For information or to order add itional copies,
please contact:
Loom Press
P Box 1394
.O.
Lowell, MA 01853
This publication has been funded in part by grants from
the Chelmsford Cultural Council and the Lowell Cultural
Council, with support from the Massachusetts Cultural
Council, a state agency, and the National Endowment for
the Arts. Thank you .
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Foreword
Sovann-Thida Loeung
5
lntroduct
Tuyet-Lan Pho
9
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T e n
A f t e r
19
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George Chigas
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��• • • • • • • • • • • • • •
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The term "Fractured Identities" grew out of our listening to the stories of many Cambodian-American
young people as they expressed to us the double life they often lead: one with family, the other with friends.
"Cambodia's Children of War," the subtitle of this book, refers to those youths, now 18-22 years old,
some of whom, ten years ago, were pictured on the cover of Southeast Asians: A New Beginning in Lowell. The
cover photograph depicts the city's struggle to deal with the wave of refugees arriving from their homelands half
way around the world. These young adults, and their friends, are the subject of this book; they represent a large
part of Lowell's Cambodian-American community-the second largest in the United States.
The search for identity within a new culture has taken many of these young people in more than one
direction. The paths they have chosen to walk seem, at times, to depend on the individual's depth of exposure to
traditional Cambodian culture before 1975. At that time the Khmer Rouge came into power and obliterated the
country's rich past. As family traditions broke down in Cambodia, and later in the United States, many of these
young men and women lost respect for parental authority and felt a need to seek out other types of family structures. In some instances, gangs have come to compensate for loss of family. In other cases, religious organizations and community-based activities have filled this need. This book allows these young people to tell their own
stories in the ongoing struggle to cope with their fractured identities.
We are grateful to Sovann-Thida Loeung, Tuyet-Lan Pho, and George Chigas for the fine writing they have
prepared for this book. Their contributions have provided a larger picture for our documentary work.
fractured
identities/Cambodia's Children of War
1
�Sovann-Thida Loeung is an elementary school teacher and an instructor of traditional Cambodian dance.
In her foreword, she bears witness to the flow of history as it swept her family from their Cambodian village to
refugee camps in Thailand to Bataan in the Philippines, then on to Southern California and finally New England.
Tuyet-Lan Pho is currently Director of the Center for Diversity and Pluralism at the University of
Massachusetts Lowell. She maintains research interest in urban education and ethnic studies, and also teaches
graduate courses at the College of Education . Her introduction offers a larger gee-political perspective and adds a
rich social context to the subject of Southeast Asian youth. Since 1975, she has actively participated in the resettlement of refugees and immigrants in the U.S.
George Chigas is a specialist in Khmer literature and translation. His ground-breaking publications,
Resolute Heart and Cambodia's Lament, were among the first Khmer-English anthologies of contemporary Khmer
writings. His essay, about Sovann-Thida and her three brothers, is a meditation on survival, memory, and witness.
We would like to thank the following people and organizations for their participation and support in this
project: the Chelmsford Cultural Council; the Lowell Cultural Council; Caryl Dundorf and Charles Goldberg from
Middlesex Community College; Laurie Beth Kalb of the New England Folklife Center; Reverend David Malone and
members of the Eliot Presbyterian Church; the Lowell Streetworker Program; Rhea and Ken Gordon and the Young
Khmer Women from the Lowell Mission Center; and Phousita Huy and Thoeun Thou of the Angkor Dance Troupe.
We also wish to thank the following: Chhouk and her extended family of friends; Ry and the Veth family; Mr. Yang of
Le Petit Cafe, Lepor, Tony, Sothom, Samnang, Saroeup, Hai Pho, Lynn and Fred Faust, Martha Norkunas, Erica
Hazard, Pat Pestana, Ellen Sullivan, Gail Weinstein, Rosemary Noon, Ruth Page, Scott Glidden, and Rady Mom.
A special thanks to Paul Marion of Loom Press, our publisher, for the many hours he spent helping us
pull together all the pieces; to Gary Gurwitz, from Mercantile Printing Company in Worcester, who is responsible
for the fine printing of this book; and to Chan Snguon who allowed us to reprint his poetry-so powerful in its
message to the youth community.
2
fractured
identities/Cambodia's Children of War
�Pam Putney's friendship and encouragement has meant so much to us, as it has to the many people
whose lives she has touched while going about her valuable work in the field of women's health care in countries
around the world. We are sure that her current work in Cambodia will play an important role in the lives of many
Cambodian women.
We are deeply grateful to everyone who shared their life stories and opened their homes to us in the
past few years as we documented the changes and growth among the young people of the Cambodian-American
community, many of whom we met more than ten years ago while creating our first documentary book about their
resettlement experience. Our lives have been enriched by these encounters and friendships. We hope this book
helps people remember and understand the history of these young people, and the challenges they face.
-JH &JR
fractured
identities/Cambodia's Children of War
3
��• •
• • • •
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by
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Sovann-Th
da
Loeung
In early 1979, after living under the murderous Pol Pot regime for nearly four years, my family and I
returned to our destroyed village, finding nothing but the ashes of our home and fallow fields where there had once
been prosperous rice paddies. Life seemed hopeless, yet we were determined to try to plant the seeds that give
hope for the future. Day by day, life seemed to be getting better. To earn money for food , my mother joined a group
of men smuggling goods between Thailand and Cambodia, knowing my sister and I, though only fifteen and sixteen,
After we arranged for my uncle's
sponsorship for us to come to this
country, we prepared for our interview. My mother had to record her
children' s birth names and exact
ages. It was the first time we had to
use our birth names since the
Khmer Rouge had taken over the
country.
We had to change our last name to
correspond with the last name of
the person who had previously
sponsored my uncle. My uncle had
adopted his sponsor's last name
so that he could pose as being his
relative and be eligible for resettlement. Now my family had to do the
same thing.
could take care of my two younger sisters and three brothers while she was away. Then one day in 1979, my mother
packed some of our family belongings and told the children to go to sleep early. The previous week, she had planned
an escape route to the border camps with a Cambodian soldier who knew the safest way to Thailand by foot. In
return my mother gave him a gold necklace. They decided that my family would leave that following week.
I don't remember if I had the feeling of being in any great danger during our escape. Maybe I was unconsciously thinking of living in a peaceful Thailand. In any case, it wasn't long before we reached Thai soil, where we
were arrested by Thai soldiers in a village called Tapriya. I remember very clearly what my mother said to these soldiers who , perhaps rightly, did not want us to stay in their country: "You can kill me now if you want, but don't tell
me to go back to Cambodia." After pleading with them again and again, the soldiers finally pointed with their bayonets, directing us to a nearby army barracks. Fortunately, the soldiers treated us well, and the next day we went to
our first camp, the Sakeo Refugee Camp. From there we would go to Mai rut Camp. My family and I were in different
camps in Thailand according to our changing refugee status. This was when I learned the word "refugee" (chun pia
fractured
identities/Cambodia's Children of War
5
�kluen) for the first time. My instincts told me that we had left Cambodia for good. Yet I never asked my mother why
we had left our country. And she never explained to any of her children why we had to leave.
In July of 1981, my family received news of our acceptance for resettlement in the United States. We were
transferred to the Philippines Refugee Processing Center in Bataan, Philippines, to learn English and to be oriented
to American culture and work. The excitement of starting a new life had really begun . Our lives were now driven by
the dream for freedom and opportunity in America. Like nearly everyone else in the Philippines camp, we wanted to
lead self-sufficient and productive lives in our new home, America, and we didn't imagine there could be any obstacles that might hinder us. We had no idea of gangs, for example , or the violence of living in some American cities.
Even after my family had lived in Long Beach for three years, I didn't believe that gang violence could ever become a
problem for a family like mine.
After our family had become settled in Long Beach, California, my mother enrolled us in the public schools.
She even allowed us to have friends and enjoy our new lives in American society. As a good daughter to my mother,
school was very important to me. I was determined to do my best in order to graduate from high school. In
September, 1981, I entered Millikan High School in Long Beach. Unfortunately, I was not able to stay there long
enough to get my diploma since the Long Beach Unified School District does not allow students to study at the high
school after reaching eighteen years of age . Consequently, I continued to pursue my diploma in an adult school program instead. I never felt I would give up on my desire to complete my education .
For my three younger brothers, however, school was like a battle. They struggled to learn not only the language but also the ways of their peers. Being so much younger than me they developed a much different attitude
toward education. They soon became discouraged and unmotivated. They started to hang out more with their
friends in the neighborhood. I was concerned about the way they responded to their school work, but I was in school
myself and not able to look over their daily homework. According to Cambodian custom , the father would typically
have had this responsibility. But since our father had passed away during Pol Pot, my mother was the one to take
6
fractured
i d e n t i t i e s / Cambod i a's Children of War
�over that role. Unfortunately, however, my mother did not know enough English to help them with their homework.
After getting my high school diploma I went to live with my older sister who had recently married and
moved to Lowell, Massachusetts, with her new husband and child in search of jobs. That year, 1985, I learned from
my mother that two of my brothers had quit school and joined a gang. By 1992, one of them had been murdered by a
gang member, while the other had ended up in jail. It was very hard for me to accept the reality of what was happen ing. I kept asking myself how this could have happened to my family. I asked myself if my brothers had forgotten the
hardship we had lived through for four years. I remembered that during Pol Pot our village had scarcely any food to
eat. My father would sneak out in the middle of the night to steal food for his children . He sacrificed his life scavenging for food to feed his family. As the Cambodian proverb tells us, he died so the children could give rise to the next
generation. It seemed to me that my two brothers had not remembered that our father had saved them from starvation all those years. It seemed that the better life my mother wished for us was an impossible dream.
Being too young to learn about what is beautiful in Cambodian culture, my two brothers had only known
Cambodia as a place of war, a place that had left the scars of starvation, while teaching children to kill and steal, distrust family members, and disobey parents. Their sense of family, community, and self-identity became buried deep
beneath the scars. They stopped listening to my mother and me when we warned them about what they were getting themselves into. After all those years of surviving under the Khmer Rouge, it broke my heart to see them turn
away from us and to their friends in the gang instead. I try not to think too much now about the problems in my family. I try to be grateful that my youngest brother and sister are in college now; for the rich culture of Cambodia; and
the life my parents gave me when I was growing up before the war. Maybe this is the difference between my two
unfortunate brothers and me. I was old enough to have had something to hold on to before the fighting and genocide took everything away. But fighting and killing is all they have ever known . This may be why I am able to cope
better with the feelings of fractured identity and confusion that break so many young people apart.
fractured
identities/Cambodia's Children of War
7
�Refugee escape routes from
Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.
8
fractured
i d e n t i t i e s / Cambodia's Children of War
�• • • • • • • • • • • • • •
N
T
R
D
0
by
u
Tuyet
c
T
Lan
0
N
Pho
Growing up in the United States today, this generation of American youth faces many challenges in their
path to develop a mature and functional identity. They must live in a highly mobile, multi-ethnic and multi-cultural
society with a tremendous pressure to seek instant gratification for material needs. With adequate social and parental
support, most grow up to be successful adults. Poverty, poor schooling, dysfunctional homes, and peer pressure may
form a breeding ground for self-destruction, substance abuse, anti-social behaviors, or sometimes criminal activities.
Establishing an identity in the American pluralistic society taxes the ability of most newcomers - young
Cambodian refugees and Cambodian-American youths in this country are no exception. Many of us do not know
the full extent of the complex challenges that confront the children of Southeast Asian refugee families who recently
resettled in the United States. The poignant story of Chenda Soth, a young Cambodian woman, gives us only a
glimpse of the pain and agony she has experienced in order to overcome these challenges and to fashion for herself a new personal identity.
CHENDA's
SroRv 1
I think I'm not too Asian, I'm not too Americanized, I'm somewhere in between. I don't try
to be American or Asian; I just try to get along with everybody. I guess I'm Asian in the way I respect
my Mom and Dad - I suppose some American teenagers do that, too, but a lot of them don't. I help
my parents do their chores, and I always greet older people with respect.
fractured
i d e n t i t i e s / Cambodia's Children of War
9
�I used to be very shy, and I decided that I was too shy. I told myself, " This is not working. If you're
too shy, you're not going to have any friends. " So I made myself be more outgoing, open up and
greet people and be more friendly. I guess that is one of the ways I have become more Americanized.
We go to church, and I value those American values. And I like to be able to express my own
opinion, so I guess I value freedom of speech. I'm more independent than a child would be in
Cambodia, and I value that. In Cambodia, you do what your parents say, and you can't object to it.
Here, I can say, "But Mom, I like to do things this way . . .. "
Chenda tries to maintain the balance between being Cambodian and being American, while serving as a
role model for her younger siblings. The most moving aspect of her story is her yearning for acceptance and her
efforts to overcome the anxiety and isolation associated with growing up in a multi-cultural environment.
In addition to oral history studies, the literature on the search for identity and the assessment of school performance among Southeast Asian youths has been recently published. It includes two large-scale surveys conducted
by the University of Michigan Institute of Social Research and the National Education Longitudinal Study and a number of research papers that focus on the social, psychological, and educational adjustment of Southeast Asian
refugees and their children. Like many immigrants and refugees who settled in the United States before 1975, the
Southeast Asians suffered a number of social and emotional setbacks. However, the psychological vulnerability of the
Cambodian, Lao , and Vietnamese appears to be more serious than their predecessors. It is important to recognize
that the Southeast Asians are refugees who escaped their homeland out of fear for being persecuted , and many may
still have a strong familial and emotional bonds to the relatives they left behind. As a group they experienced severe
trauma during their escape and their subsequent stay in refugee camps. Many of them may never recover from the
profound sense of loss in their life even after they have safely resettled in America. Psychology field investigators have
found that the self-esteem of many refugees has suffered in the face of significant status loss, underemployment,
10
f r a c t u r ed
i dent i t i es/Cambod i a ' s Children of War
�isolation, and instances of hostility by Americans. The incidence of major depression, psychotic disorders, and other
health problems may reflect the impact of numerous stresses the Southeast Asian refugees have confronted.
Some researchers suggested that the Southeast Asian refugee children who grow up in the United States
may perceive four identity systems that are at times overlapping, but more often conflicting with one another and
with the Southeast Asian cultural background and family life. These identities are : Southeast Asian, American,
Refugee, and Adolescent. This identity crisis may create difficulty for the social adjustment and academic performance of Southeast Asian students, and the multidimensional identity assumed by many Southeast Asian youths
may have negative effects on their outlook on life and their work. Southeast Asian adolescents who migrated with
their parents, or are in foster care with other Southeast Asian families, do better in school and are much less
depressed than are those adolescents placed with American families or in group homes.
A review of essays, diaries, and journals written by Southeast Asian students in high schools, colleges, and
universities reveals their hopes for a brighter future that might be attained through education, as well as the frustra tion that they have experienced in their search for an identity that enables them to carry on the traditional values
and practices at home while at the same time being "Americanized" in school. The students' voices are most compelling in situations in which they try to sort out the differences between their acculturated perspective as an Asian
American and their parents' traditional perspective as a Southeast Asian. The students' identity crisis requires resolution as they reach adulthood and have to cope with the friction of racism and prejudice in a pluralistic society.
They share a similar identity crisis with other immigrant children or first-generation American-born students.
However, their search for an identity has been compounded by the traditional values rooted in Confucian philosophy
and religious beliefs embedded in Buddhism that their parents had imparted to them. In the socialization process at
home, students often have to deal with an apparent split loyalty to their parents' culture and to the American values
that emphasize independence, self assertion, and individual determinism. There are cases where the differences
between parents and children serve as internal forces for self drive and individual achievement, but there are also
fractured
i d e n t i t i e s / Cambodia's Children of War
11
�incidents whereby these differences foster dysfunctional behaviors or self destruction.
Although there are distinctive differences in cultures and languages among Cambodians, Lao, and
Vietnamese, these people share some common social customs and traditional values. For more than two thousand
years, Southeast Asia has been a crossroads of cultural activity, influenced by the customs, languages, and institu tions of the Chinese, Indian, and Oceanic peoples, and adding European Christian influences in the past 500 years.
Religions practiced by many Southeast Asians include Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism; sp iritual
reverence for ancestors, gods, or objects may also occur in some Southeast Asian cultures. Common themes
among these religious practices include the search for peace and harmony and the respect that is given to ancestors or deceased relatives.
The traditional family unit in Southeast Asia is larger than in the United States, including not only parents
and their children , but also grandparents, married children, aunts and uncles, and other relatives as well, all living
in a single household or in close proximity. In the family a great deal of respect is paid by children and youth to parents and the elderly. The father is accepted as the head of the household, although he may not be the sole wage
earner, and is charged with upholding family traditions and setting moral standards for his children. The mother is
often responsible for maintaining the household budget and promoting family unity. It is not unusual for older
brothers or sisters to take care of their siblings; the younger children obey and respect the older brother or sister
much as they do their parents. Because of strong family ties, refugees may seek out relatives who have resettled in
the United States.
The role and responsibility of individual members of the family that many Southeast Asian refugees are
able to maintain after their resettlement in the United States enable them to provide a home setting that is supportive and nurturing to children . On the other hand, many Southeast Asian families have become more nuclear as they
acculturate into the American society, as a result of housing conditions, employment requirements, and choices of
schools for the children . This shift in the Southeast Asian family stru cture has been more evident since 1990.
12
fractured
i d e n t i t i es / Cambodia's Child r en of War
�The traumatic experiences of escape and life in refugee camps are additional luggage that refugees carry
with them for life. Newcomers to the United States during the past century have been admitted under two major
immigration categories : refugee or immigrant. Each status provides its constituency with different rights and restrictions, and is governed by separate Acts of the Congress: the Immigration Act of 1917, the Refugee Relief Act of 1952,
and their subsequent amendments. According to Section 101(a)(42) of the Refugee Act of 1980, a "refugee" is a person who is outside of his or her country of origin who is unable or unwilling to return because of persecution or a
well -founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or
political opinion . An "immigrant," on the contrary, is a person who planned to leave his or her country and chose to
live in another country voluntarily.
The first wave of Southeast Asian refugees or the "evacuees" at the end of the Vietnam war in 1975 was
made up of approximately 130,000 Vietnamese who left South Vietnam. A small number of arrivals from Cambodia
and Laos came in 1976 and 1977. The second wave of refugees or the boat people arrived between 1978 and 1981.
These refugees took to the high seas in small fishing boats, swam across the Mekong river, or walked through the
jungle from Cambodia and Laos to Thailand. It was estimated that only half of them made it safely to the shore of
third countries of asylum such as Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, the Philippines, and Australia;
the other half were lost at sea or fell victim to pirates. The third wave of refugees is a mixture of refugees and immigrants who have made up the continuing flow from their countries of origin since 1985. Those who arrived under the
refugee status were screened in from a larger pool of displaced people in refugee camps in Southeast Asia. The
other third wave arrivals migrated to the United States under three different immigration processes: (1) the orderly
departure procedure granted immigrant visa status to those who wished to reunite with their immediate relatives;
(2) the Amerasians, who are mostly illegitimate children of American servicemen; and (3) the humanitarian order
covering special groups of immigrants including Vietnamese who were political prisoners in their own countries.
The arrival of refugees from 1975 through 1994 and their subsequent resettlement throughout the United
fractured
i d e n t i t i e s / Cambodia's Children of War
13
�States were documented in Refugee Reports prepared by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, of the United States
Department of Health and Human Services. Among all nations, the United States has resettled the largest number of
Southeast Asian refugees. According to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, the total number of Southeast Asian
refugee arrivals in the United States from 1975 through September 30, 1994 is 1,180,538; this figure includes 70,832
Amerasians. By the end of fiscal year 1994, it was estimated that the Vietnamese made up 67 percent of the total,
while 20 percent were from Laos and about 13 percent were from Cambodia. Southeast Asian refugees have settled
in every state and several territories of the United States; large concentrations can be found in a number of West
Coast cities and in Texas, as well as in several East Coast and Midwestern cities. Massachusetts is among the top ten
states with a large Southeast Asian population (34,479 or 3.1 percent), and California has the largest Southeast
Asian population (446,092 or 40.2 percent) .
Southeast Asians residing in the United States shared the following characteristics: (1) more than 85 percent have been in the country for more than five years; (2) approximately 55 percent are male and 45 percent are
female; (3) their median age is 28; (4) the school age population represents 21 percent, young adult 19 percent,
working age 60 percent, and 65 or older 3.5 percent; (5) average family size is 5.2; and (6) a large number of households have from 4 to 6 children. These characteristics make the Southeast Asian refugees and immigrants different
from their predecessors such as the Irish, French, Italian, and other European immigrants who came mostly as single
males and settled in a number of large cities on the East Coast.
Southeast Asian refugees coming to the United States bring with them a wide range of socio-economic and
educational backgrounds, from tribal mountain dwellers to farmers with limited literacy to urban professionals holding advanced degrees. However, most schooling in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam has been disrupted since 1975;
many younger refugees may not have attended school.
The educational systems in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam were based on the French system as a result of
French colonialism, an instructional approach that emphasizes memorization and repetition . As a result of the
14
fractured
identities/Cambodia's Children of War
�Confucian education, teachers are highly respected, to the point that no one would consider questioning either the
information a teacher provides or the way in which it is provided. Both children and parents from Southeast Asian
cultures may have difficulty adjusting to the style of learning in public schools in the United States, wher€ discussion
and questioning are preferred and encouraged.
The influx of Cambodian refugees to Lowell started in 1985, and lasted through 1990 largely as a result of
second migration. Lowell is a mid-sized city located approximately 30 miles northwest of Boston, Massachusetts. Its
population is composed of about 100,000 people from many different ethnic backgrounds. Southeast Asian refugees
who have resettled there since 1980 represent approximately 25 percent of this community's population. lt is estimated that Southeast Asians who reside in Lowell include 20,000 Cambodians, 5,000 Lao, and 2,000 Vietnamese .
Among American cities, Lowell has the second largest population of Cambodian-Americans. The concentration of
Cambodian refugees in Lowell has led to dramatic changes in the city. The Cambodian community has impacted not
only the city's housing pattern but also the schools and the business environment as well. More than 75 shops and
stores are Cambodian owned and operated. There are numerous service-providing agencies and Buddhist temples.
Altogether, these establishments have sustained the preservation of cultural heritage and created business opportu nities for the newcomers as well as the city residents. At the same time they have fostered a greater level of tension
in the integration process of the Cambodians and their children into the city.
For many young Cambodians who live in Lowell, the pieces of their life may not fit well together-and their
stories need to be told. Since the early 198o's, Joan Ross and Jim Higgins have opened their home, lent their ears,
and patiently recorded the faces and the voices of many Southeast Asian refugees and their children. Their work was
brilliantly assembled and published in 1986 as Southeast Asians: A New Beginning in Lowell. The book was appreciated by the Southeast Asian community and well received by historians, teachers, and social workers across the
nation. In this sequence, Fractured Identities: Cambodia's Children of War, Higgins and Ross have followed a number
of Cambodian elementary school students they photographed in 1986, listened with compassion to their stories, and
fractured
identities/Cambodia's Children of War
15
�captured the poignant images of their lives. These children of war have grown into young adults with compelling
stories of their struggle against great challenges in their search for an identity. There is joy, pain, and hope for the
future in their stories.
*1
This is an exce rpt from the tra nscr iption of a taped interview with Chenda, one of the subjects of an ethnographic study conducte d
wit h students at Lowel l High Schoo l in 1993.
Newly-arrived Cambodian
refugees photographed
at Logan Airport in
Boston, 1985.
16
fractured
identities/Cambodia's
Children
of War
��•
��• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
A college student studying criminal justice,
Tom has his own Tae Kwon Do school where
he instructs military personnel.
"We got to this country when I was nine.
Where I lived we were surrounded by
American families. I'd walk to school in
the morning and the kids would spray
water at me with a hose. My father
knows I could beat the kids up anytime
but he say we came to their country, let
it go. I started to learn Tae Kwon Do, and
in high school I ended up on the same
sports teams with the same kids that
sprayed water at me. In time we became
friends, and we would laugh about
those times."
20
�" When I was fourteen , I took the summer off to
become a monk. My family make a big parade
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
for me and my cousins. We dressed in safron
rob es and rode horseback from our home to the
temple just like my father did in Cambodia . At
the temple I would wake up at 4:00 in the morning and cook noodles and rice for the monks. We
would say the prayer over and over. We cannot
even kill an insect. In those three months I
learned more than in nine or ten years. I learned
to meditate and to think a lot about everything.
Now, I always think twice ."
fractured
i d e n t i t i e s / Cambodia ' s Children of War
21
�Kim, photographed with her two children,
and with her extended family, at the Eliot
Presbyterian Church.
"She's afraid that her son will grow up to
be like his father... he was in a gang and
now he's in jail. I told her I won't let it
happen ... he's only young."
- Cham Rong, about his sister
and her son
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
�• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
"Junior" has a full-time job, and is the high-scoring forward
for the "Rascals, " a traveling basketball team that competes
up and down the East Coast.
"As far as movies go, I like action, fighting, and comedy
- especially Arnold . .. and Eddie Murphy. Robin
Williams is good. I saw Good Morning Vietnam with
my uncle two or three times. We don't learn anything
about the history of Cambodia in school here . .. just
Columbus ... who discovered America . . . stuff like
that-it just doesn't go in my head."
�Vy, a recent vocational school graduate,
holds a picture of his father who is missing
in Cambodia.
"His father disappeared after the Khmer
Rouge came to our village. He was just a
baby and he don't remember him, but he
keep his picture in his room. It keeps
him from forgetting."
- Vy' s mother
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
�"Salina" works at a fast-food restaurant and
is in her second year of college.
"I'm still expected to help out at home
with the younger children, but my mom
is happy for me being in school. I want a
business degree and then maybe I'll
have a chance to get a good paying job.
I have three older sisters but I'm the first
in our family to go to college ."
fractured
identities/Cambodia's Children of War
25
�26
�• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
After escaping
Cambodia-family ID
portrait at Site Two
refugee camp in Thailand
Sa-ang (left) is a college senior studying
electronics; Sophin studies computer
networking and takes classes in graphics.
" My mother complains because the
phone is always busy when her friends
try to call. Our modem is hooked up to
our telephone line . .. We have student
access to the internet so we spend
about four hours a day on-line."
D'
Nel n11pe: Sophfn NelSlte
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10 1nfQfmlUCiglb;Ju1 myOCMK11fyll'l4.POl'l'l•oC myfnCJ;tui11&Uldlillll::!lwill.alJOirlHCtd.-J'O"'IOlllJ'f.&111ily(Tbt3lwfft"I)
SOE URN 'S FAMILY
I
�Dy is a junior in high school and is a member
of the Lowell Mission Center.
"When I was 15 I got in trouble . I wanted
to go out at night but my parents wouldn't
let me. I started staying out at my friend 's
house and when my parents felt they had
no control over me, the DYS put me with
foster parents. When my family moved to
California I tried going with them , but my
mom always complained of how much
trouble I was in - so , I left on a bus and
came back to Lowell. .. it took four days.
I came back to my foster parents . I feel
like I fit in here in Lowell. I want to go to
college to be a surgical technician. I like
biology and science and I can stand the
sight of blood!"
28
�Cham Rong graduates high school this year.
He hopes to go to college and find a job to
help support his mother and grandmother.
"It's kind of hard to get out of a gang...
when you're in, you're in. You have no
choice. It took me a while to understand
that all the things I did were wrong . ..
beat up people for respect. .. that's not
how you get respect. I had to be locked
up for three years with lots ohime to
think. At first I didn't really want to listen
to the counselors there, but when I did
listen to what they had to say it helped
me to help myself. It's hard not to listen
to your friends, but if they are really your
good friends, they won't ask you to do
things you don't want to."
��• • • • • • • • • • • • • •
T
H
R
E
E
An
B
Essay
R
by
0
T
H
George
E
R
s
Chigas
One family. Three lives. Three brothers. One was killed. One went to prison. One went to college. The
telling of the story depends on these so-called facts.
More facts. They arrived in Los Angeles in September, 1981, with their mother and four sisters, three older
and one younger. Their father had died two years earlier during the Pol Pot regime. The second sister, my wife,
once told me how he had stolen food for the family from the communal kitchen where he worked but did not eat
enough himself; how before he became sick he was weak from hunger; how he died in a place called a hospital
where there were no doctors or medicine. She told me that not long after his death the Vietnamese invaded the
country, and in the confusion the family escaped across the mountains to the first refugee camps in Thailand. My
wife, the second oldest, was fifteen. The boys were eight, nine, and ten.
As I present this information-the so-called facts of the story-I realize how I could be taken as posing as
one who "knows" and is therefore in a position to make it known to others. That because this information may be
verifiable as "fact," I should be able to present a "true" account of at least part of their story. And that with enough
facts I would be able to tell their "whole" story. But I must say from the start that I do not have enough facts, and
the ones I have seem to leave out as much as they tell or, conversely, put in more than what might have been there
to begin with. Further, the information I present is nothing more or less than someone's translation of memory into
language. This story, this translation, therefore, depends on memory. On memory which desires to be told.
If this story must be told, then let it begin with the father's death. This is because if there were anything that could
fractured
identities/Cambodia's Children of War
31
�have made the story turn out differently, it would have been the boys' having had a father. In this story, the father
was the principal of a village school in the Cambodian countryside who had the reputation of being a firm but fair
disciplinarian. I am told that he was equally strict at home. But the father was not only a school principal and the
judicious enforcer of rules and regulations. He was also a dancer, and in the afternoons after school beneath the
tamarind tree in front of their house he taught his children, especially his second daughter, my wife , the dance. The
mother, besides keeping house and raising the children, supplemented the family income by making desserts to
sell at the village market. Early in the morning, before school, the second daughter would start a cooking fire and
help her mix rice flower with water and sugar. The second daughter remembers this very clearly.
Because of their good parents, the children had a happy and comfortable life. The three boys respected
and obeyed their father. The three older daughters went to school and performed household chores. They bathed
and fed their three younger brothers. They gathered and split wood for cooking. They carried water from the river.
They helped their mother prepare meals and wash clothes. They swept the ground beneath their house which
stood on wooden stilts and which, during the rainy season, became engulfed in water. And so, because of the
father's position and the industry and beauty of his wife and daughters, the family had a good reputation in the village where they lived. And on summer evenings, when movies would be shown on a large canvas sheet spread
between two trees, the father's daughters and sons did not have to pay. The second daughter remembers this in
the same way she remembers learning the dance beneath the shade of the tamarind tree and helping her mother
make dessert in the morning before school.
The story's telling begins in the oral tradition. It is told both in the way that it was heard and not in that
way. Its telling changes the teller which changes the telling. Its telling is the translation of someone else's translations of the memories of her life. The original experience of learning the dance beneath the tamarind tree or making dessert before school was not the same as I tell it or as she remembers it herself. Yet we are aware of their
importance, especially the memory of the dance, which she carries with her, inside of her, like her breath. Dance
32
fractured
identities/Cambodia ' s Children of War
�and th e memory of learning th e dance have a direct relation to th e memory of the father. They are contiguous,
physically touching each other in her mind. By maintaining the one, she sustains the other. The dance keeps a
place inside of her to carry her father's memory. It opens a space for her desire to redeem his senseless death .
Yet, at the same time, the dance is what confirms his loss. The two memories, the on e of the dance and
the other of the father touch one another at an inaccessible horizon of meaning. Each simultaneously produces
and negates the other. By dancing, her fath er is both presented and made absent. Dancing presents his absence.
Perhaps this is why so many Cambodian dancers can look so terribly sad when they dance. They too may be
remembering their teachers who died . This would make the tradition of lighting incense in honor of one's teacher
all the more necessary and important. Since the genocide, this ritual has new and added meaning. The dance has
become a way of both reclaiming an unjust death and mourning an irredeemable loss.
*
*
*
The story's telling changes, must change. I remember the Christmas when we returned to America on
home-leave from our jobs in the Philippines. The first brother had been arrested by the police after falling asleep at
the wheel of his car. The officer had found an illegal weapon in the car. Upon investigation it was learned that the
car had been at the scene of a recent robbery in Lowell. There is a picture in my mind of the way he looked when I
went to the station to bail him out. They were taking his mug shot as he held a name card across his chest. I
remember how the way he looked then resembled the way he looked in the small photograph taken for his exit visa
on the day before his family left the refugee camp to come to the United States. In both pictures he is holding a
small chalk board in front of him written with his name. There is a seven year difference between the two pictures,
the picture of the departing refugee, the survivor, and the memory of the police suspect. And there is another
seven years between this memory and its telling as part of this story. In both pictures he has the same curly hair
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33
�and confused expression on his face. In both pictures he is the oldest brother and the one who most physically
resembles the father. The father who did not survive. Who did not come to the United States. Whose body became
part of the Cambodian killing fields.
After driving him back home from the police station I sat him down with the second brother in the living
room of their sister's house in Lowell. The second brother had also been in trouble with the police. The second
brother, perhaps the brightest, would go to prison that year. He is the one, perhaps more than the others, for whom
having a father could have made the story turn out differently. He is the one who always wanted something. The
one who, on the way home from school in Long Beach, beat up his younger brother so he would not tell their mother he had joined a gang. He is the leader with a quick mind who did the best in school before dropping out. The one
whom I saw years later at a Cambodian dance party after he had been released from jail the first time. The one who
told the other gang members what to do. The one whom they respected and obeyed as their leader. The one who
led them inside the restaurant to the party where they were seated and politely served food and drinks for free so
there wouldn't be any trouble. He is the one who would go to jail again for manslaughter. Whom his sister and I
saw during visiting hours on Sunday. Whose son is growing up without a father just as he did.
On that day after returning from the police station, the mother was waiting in the living room of her
daughter's house. She was not the same woman who had lived in the village where her husband had been the
school principal. Not the same woman who had made desserts with her daughter to sell in the market. In this story
she is the widow who has fled her country. She is the refugee who doesn't speak English. In the course of this story
she has become the survivor. In this story the widow sits with her two older sons in the first daughter's house in
Lowell, Massachusetts. Her face is red and swollen from crying. There is a Christmas tree in the corner of the room
with gifts placed underneath. The two boys are sitting on an old couch hanging their heads, looking down at the
floor as I pace the room back and forth in front of them.
"This is not a game," I tell them, "not some kind make-believe show on TV. What the hell do you think
34
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�you're doing? What kind of life are you trying to make for yourselves? Your sister and I come home for Christmas,
and we spend our time bailing you two out of jail. What is this all about?" The two boys sit silently on the couch as
their mother wipes the tears from her eyes.
"It's not like the movies," I tell them again . This is for real. These gangsters shoot real guns with real bullets that kill real people. You want to die? You want to spend the rest of your lives in jail? For Christ's sake! I can't
believe this is happening! I can't believe what you two are doing to yourselves and this family."
*
*
*
There are other memories of other photographs . One of the three boys in the Mai rut refugee camp in
Thailand. They are in front of the family's crude bamboo and thatch shelter. There's something cooking on a fire
made from the coal allotted by the United Nations to each family. The second brother is lifting the lid off of a cooking wok while the other two are laughing. They are all wearing soiled T-shirts, shorts, and flip-flops. Their sister
keeps that photograph in an album in a box with other photographs from that time.
I never went to Mai rut camp. But we did visit Site 2 many years after the picture was taken. I remember
waking among the bamboo huts built in long, seemingly endless, rows with narrow, red clay alleyways between.
On that day my wife and I saw similar scenes as in the picture of the three brothers in Mai rut camp: people cooking, cutting wood, washing clothes in aluminum tubs. Children swam in the pools of stagnant water that collected
in the drainage ditch by the side of the road . Many of these children had been born there and had never been
beyond the barbed wire fence that surrounded the perimeter of the camp. The memory of these children, their
laughing and how they waved at us, is connected to the memory of the three brothers in the picture of the camp.
The memories touch each other in a way that is similar to the way the dance and the memory of her father physically
touch each other for my wife. They are contiguous fragments but not like the parts of a puzzle which add up to
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i d e n t i t i e s / Cambodia's Children of War
35
�_J__;o\¥l~JJJ1)an
-f·o1.ii-uv~sl16t. --
--· - - --·. -c
-- - ·. -- . -_-. .·_
d1 lrfi1g Yi,S}f_
.· t;00illjfI·.-- . .::
.
·.·
··-
something whole or complete. Instead, they remain broken and, in translation, continue to break, not apart, but
farther. These fragments, which depend on the desire to remember, the desire to reconstruct an original experience, are paradoxically broken farther by remembering.
I remember the winter night in 1991, when the phone rang. It is true that the phone rang in our house on a
winter's night in 1991. And it is true that my wife answered the phone and heard the oldest sister say that their oldest brother had been shot in a parking lot in Stockton and that he was dead. I remember the sound of her voice
when she called my name and walked into the room. And I remember getting up from my desk and holding her in
my arms and that we didn't say anything for a long while.
The next day I didn't go to work, and we sat in a chair holding each other. I remember there was snow on
the ground outside the window. Perhaps there was a fire in the wood stove. There were however many hours of
tears. In our life together there have been countless hours of tears. And afterwards there has always been the
crumpled tissue left behind. The tissue that she clutches in her hand and presses to her eyes. The tissue that
makes me think of a cloud . The same tissue I find beneath her pillow in the morning. The one she presses to her
eyes as she lies next to me curled on her side. The one that drops from her hand when she finally cries herself to
sleep. But to call the tissue "a cloud" would be unfaithful to the telling of the story. It would be an exuberance for
the sake of "effect" that hinders the task of translating the memory of my wife, who has just been told of her brother's death. So now I must try to begin again.
*
*
*
At that time the youngest brother was living with us in Millers Falls. Of the three brothers, he is the one I
know best. Or I think I know. When he came to live with us, he was about sixteen . At that time he had been living
with the oldest sister in Lowell, waiting to be called by the United Parcel Service for a job loading delivery trucks. In
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�the meantime, he sat in his sister's house watching TV. He was going to Lowell High School but failing many of his
classes. He spent his time helping his sister take care of her three young children, going on weekend outings with
the Mormon church and watching television . When my wife and I returned home from the Philipp ines and saw him
sitting day after day in front of the TV waiting for a call from UPS, we decided that he should come with us when we
moved to Amherst. In other words, we would be the ones to get him out of the city and give him a chance to make
something of his life .
We knew that he didn't really want to go to Amherst. He had already moved too many times. During Pol
Pot his family was forced to leave their vi llage. After t he Vietnamese invasion they fled to Thailand . From Thailand
they were resettled in California. Then he left his neighborhood friends in Long Beach to move to Lowell. And now
he had to leave his friends at the church in Lowell to move again. And he loved his friends. He needed his friends
very badly. More than anything else I think, he wanted to stay in one place and be part of a loving family. The
church gave him that, or at least, it gave him that more than anything else he had ever known . At this time his
mother had moved back to Long Beach after an argument with her daughter. His second brother was in jail. The
oldest brother had moved in to live with his girlfriend. One sister was here and another there . The church was his
family now. But he had no choice. He had to do what his older sister told him to do. That is the Cambodian custom.
He fe lt that he had to obey his elders.
I would like to think that by bringing him to Amherst we kept him from dropping out of high school and
working at UPS for the rest of his life or perhaps being a Mormon missionary. I would like to believe that this is why
he is a senior in college now. Why he went to Thailand as an American Field Service student when he was in high
school. Why he joined the drama club and performed in Guys and Dolls and Midsummer Night's Dream. When we
moved into our apartment in Amherst, he brought his skateboard , a sling shot and his Mormon Bible. The first two
things had to do with him wanting "to be a kid ." When I would tell him he was too old for sling shots, that's what he
would tell me. He didn't want that taken from away from him. At least not yet. He entered Amherst High School at
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37
�the sophomore year, which he had just completed in Lowell. He had alre ady been kept bac k one yea r and th is made
two. But I decided he wasn't ready to be a junior. He was still a kid.
In the morning before school, I made him noodle soup, and at night I corrected his math homework. He
wasn't allowed to study in front of the television. When I came home one day and found him asleep in front of the
TV as a pot of water was boiling on the stove, he was not allowed to watch TV for two weeks. I took my role seriously, perhaps too seriously. His sister didn't like me making him soup in the morning. He was too old for that, she'd
say. She didn't like it when I drove him to the Mormon church in Amherst. Why did he go there when he didn't even
know his own religion , she would say. His sister and I would frequently quarrel about what was best for him. I like
to think I did the right thing. I like to think I did my best.
The story of the second brother is the story of a relationship that is not unlike the relationship between a
father and son. And so I become aware of having started to tell a different kind of story in which the rules of the
story's telling have changed . This translation is being done with a different mind . The space between the memory
and its translation is more narrow, harder to locate, more difficult to maintain . The mind begins to resh ape itself. It
searches out new ways to give meaning to these memories. The tone becomes one of self-questioning and reflec tion on one's intention to do the right thing. The tone is sentimental. The telling of the story becomes more difficult
because the memories I translate are not the memories of what someone else has told me. This translation is performed with the mind of a "parent" who wants to believe that he did the right thing.
The picture in my mind is the one of the third brother in his ROTC uniform. In that picture he is standing at
attention with his arm lifted in a firm salute. He is wearing a blue visored cap and a white shirt with blue clip-on tie
that is a little off center. He is smiling and happy looking. This is the brother who, in the beach pictures at Mai rut
camp, has his arm over the second brother's shoulder. He has the same good -natured smile. He is the same boy
who wants everybody to love one another. The same boy who wants to be part of a family that loves one another.
As I said, when he was in high school he was chosen to go to Thailand as an exchange student for the AFS.
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�In Thailand the father of hi s host family, which he still calls his family, is an officer in the Thai air force . One day they
went to the air field together to see the jets. He was treated as the "son" of his host father and given special treatment. One of the pictures he brought home to Amherst shows him sitting in an American jet. Since his return, he
has exchanged letters with his family in Thailand and all of the friends, his "brothers" and "sisters," that he met
there. After receiving these letters he would tape them next to the pictures of his family on the wall in his room
until it was nearly covered floor to ceiling. I believe that trip was a turning point in his life. It may have been the first
time that he had ever received unconditional love and had had the opportunity to show that love. On the night he
returned from his trip we all sat in the first sister's new house in Chelmsford as he opened his jam -packed suitcase.
He had bought each of us a small gift: batik shirts, sarongs, miniature carvings . For me there was a pocket watch in
the shape of a lady bug, so that when you spread its wings the clock face appeared beneath .
During the two years his sister and I separated and she moved to Lowell to work as a teacher there, he
continued to live with me for a number of months. I was very disturbed by the separation and impossible to live
with . One night we had a horrible falling out that ended with me asking him to move out by the end of the month.
By the end of the week he had packed his belongings, including the letters and pictures from the walls of his room,
and left the house to stay with friends in Amherst. And so that part of the story ended .
It is hard for me now to find the space for the continued telling of this story. I ask myself who is using this
sentimental tone to tell the story of a " father" and "son"? Who is telling this fiction whose telling is itself the experience? Perhaps he is the one who makes an offering of words in the hope they may be accepted. Perhaps his
desire is the impossible desire of the three brothers. And their sisters. The impossible desire that one's story could
ever be told .
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39
�Why.does it seem like the war will never end?
Why can't my people make amends?
We left our country to stay alive,
but even here we can't survive
brothers die and sisters cry
moms and dads wonder why
.
the children they run away
against each other they become the prey
in the streets they join a gang
in a week, a gun goes bang
a trigger pulled without a thought
too late now, a brother shot
just like way back then
,
we live the war again and agail1
Can't my people comprehend?
it's time we put it to an end
lift your spirit and keep hope alive
no more worries and no more cries
the sun will shine and we will rise
-Chan Snguon
Youth Peace, June, 1995
�•
��this stuff."
-Sunny
�"My parents encouraged me a lot to stay in school. They were
there 100% even though they didn't understand English. I
don't put the blame on the parents. It's hard for them .. . they
can't go to work and learn English, too. It's not the involve ment, it's the time ... they just don't have it. And sometimes
they don't feel comfortable at school because they think that
they might be looked down upon. One of my friends brought
home his report card with all Os and the parents asked what
a D means and he said that means good . So, the parents
were so proud .
"My father was a monk for ten years and he is a Buddhist but
I am a Christian. I was baptized. I wanted to believe in something to make life better to live for. Sometimes I often ask
myself, "Did God make us, or did man make God because man
wanted something to believe in, or something to have faith in,
or someone to talk to when he's by himself, all alone .. . ."
-Tony
��"When I joined ROTC I was thinking of being an
Air Force nurse or an office worker, but now I
think I want to be a pilot-this is the 90s and
I feel like I want to do something more for myself.
" My parents think that when I go out after school
I'm looking for trouble ... even though the Young
Khmer Women are going out for community service to break down the stereotypes of kids getting
in trouble. They say, 'I don't see the other kids
going out joining a girls group or whatever you
call it' .. . they just don't understand. They worry
that the neighbors might think I'm going out to
look for trouble - I say I don't care what the
neighbors think."
- Phors
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�"The first time I went to DYS was for hitting the
principal. He came up from behind and put his
hand on me and I turned around and swung at
him because I thought someone was attacking
me. I was sent to Forest Tree Camp ... you're out
there alone with the wind and trees and stars.
They make us walk 42 miles with everything on
our backs-one thing lucky to us is there was
snow, so we cross-country ski for 42 miles
instead of walk."
- Bun
"My mother goes to ESL class, but can't speak much
English. My father's 57 years old. The only time I talk to
him is when we get a phone call, or when the mail comes.
When I ask him for money he never gives me money...
nothing. Right now my parents are doing a blessing on
the house ... every couple of months you have to do a
blessing on the house so the evil don't come."
-Yorn
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47
�fractured
i d e n t i t i e s / Cambodia ' s Children of War
�"After I had Gavin, his grandparents gave me an
herbal mixture to drink everyday so the milk
would keep flowing. One time I thought I had no
more milk so I took some of the herbal drink and
the milk poured out of me. They had me take daily
herbal steam baths to rid my body of impurities,
and they put a hot, heavy rock on my stomach to
flatten it and to help me heal quickly. These are
Cambodian customs.
"I went back to school a month after Gavin was
born. I graduate pretty soon and I can't wait for
the senior prom. Having a baby does make it
more difficult, but I love him with all my heart.
He's my 'pumpkin pie in a pea pod."'
-Ry
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49
�50
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i d e n t i t i e s / Cambodia's Children of War
�"In Cambodia I was a teacher in a private school. Here I teach K to 7th grade.
Most kids in my class are from broken fam ilies. Every time that the kid have a
problem, I call their house but nobody answer, nobody home. But some parents are very good. They transport the kid from home to scho ol but the kid go
in the front door and get out the bac k door an d the parent never know that. The
administrators say "where do we put th e bad kid?" I say let the parent be
responsible. They shou ld not put bad and good toget her in the cla ss room. If
you have fresh meat in one bu cket and you put bad meat in with it, all the meat
spoil together... same thing in school.
"Discipline is number one for the kids. Th e way we educate kids in Cambodia,
we let them unde rstand that this is part of life skills. We start in the 1st grade.
We create song, we create poem ... I love my mommy. .. I love my daddy. Step
by step if you reinforce every day, the kid have no problem when they grow up.
I educate my daughter, I told her to read boo ks, I encourage her to read-I
believe the more she read, the better she understand. I hope she will be a role
model for my family. She told me she wants to be a doctor. I cannot see into the
future but I hope it comes true ."
- Mr. Sokhan Yang
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i d e n t i t i e s / Cambodia ' s Children of War
51
�"When I was in high school I fell in love. One day I
came home late. That day my boyfriend dropped
me off and my mother questioned me about skipping school with him. I was afraid to stay home
because of my father. My sister and I would be
whipped just for having boyfriends. I went to a
friend's house and didn't come home for a week.
After that my parents made us get married. The
parents feel that the guy that takes you away
loses your virginity. I didn't know anything about
sex. I was 17 and he was 16 when we got married.
We lived with my mom and both went to school.
"One night he went out to shoot some pool and
he never came home-he got killed that night.
I was a widow at 19 with two kids. After he died, I
went into a despair of life. I wanted to die but
people told me you have to be strong. I try to
keep myself busy. I started working as a physical
therapist in high school. Now I want to graduate
from college . . . I know I'm going to lead my kids in
the right way."
-Chhoeun
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identities/Cambodia's Children of War
�fractured
identities/Cambodia's Children of War
53
�"In my family, my parents never really talked to us
about growing up. My father didn't really associate
with anyone. It's been hard for us kids. He works
3rd shift; he's tired all the time . Wh en he did ta lk
to us, he lectured . He doesn't teach us the right
way to grow up . .. only lectured about being good.
"Sunny and I support each other like sisters.
Living with a group of friends is like being in a
family - we're never embarrassed around each
other and we share everything."
-Chhouk
54
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i d e n t i t i e s / Cambodia's Children of War
�fractured
i d e n t i t i es / Cambodia ' s Children of War
55
�"I ~·anted the o
express xnyse1f es
�I can see the pain in her eyes
her tears tell a story
as they trickle down her cheeks
to form a river full of misery,
yet her courage is relentless
and she never gives up
her spirit is vibrant
and her faith is undying
she doesn't smile often,
but when she does, it is a celebration
her laughter tickles me,
and makes me proud to be her son.
-Chan Snguon
Youth Peace.June, 1995
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i d e n t i t i e s / Cambodia's Child r en of War
57
�• • • • • • • • • • • • • •
A
B
u
0
T
T
H
E
A
u
T
H
0
R
s
James Higgins and Joan Ross work as a photo/design team on documentary and editorial projects. Their first
book on the Southeast Asian community, Southeast Asians: A New Beginning in Lowell, has been distributed
worldwide, and photograp hs from the book have become a traveling exhibit with shows at the National
Museum of American History of the Smithsonian Institution, and refugee camps in the Philippines. They are
currently working on a project with San Francisco State University and the Bay Area Immigrant Literacy Initiative
documenting community-based organizations in the Bay Area .
I
A special thanks to the guys down at the basketball
court who allowed me to be part of the game . ..
-JH
.. . and to Ry (right) and her mom, Rav (center), who let me
help coach Ry and Soeun ' s son, Gavin, into this world. ..
-JR
58
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i d e n t i t i e s / Cambodia's Children of War
�I
��
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Higgins, James (Jim). Lowell Books Collection, 1983-1997
Description
An account of the resource
The James Higgins book collection includes 2 copies each of 3 books related to Lowell and the Lowell area Cambodian and larger Southeast Asian communities. <br /><br />The collection is completely accessible on this site. <br /><br />View the collection finding aid for more information, <a href="https://libguides.uml.edu/uml7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://libguides.uml.edu/uml7</a>.<br /><br />-------------------- <br />SEADA would like to thank the following individuals for their work in making this collection available online: Monita Chea, Julia Huynh, and Chornai Pech.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Higgins, James (Jim). Lowell Books Collection, 1983-1997. UML 7. Center for Lowell History, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA.
Relation
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The collection finding aid, <a href="https://libguides.uml.edu/uml7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://libguides.uml.edu/uml7</a>.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Fractured Identities: Cambodia's Children of War photobook, 1997
Subject
The topic of the resource
Black-and-white photography
Cambodian American teenagers
Cambodian Americans
Children and war -- Cambodia
Massachusetts -- Lowell
Description
An account of the resource
A photography book designed and created by James Higgins and Joan Ross with a forward by Sovann-Thida Loeung, an introduction by Tuyet-Lan Pho, and an essay by George Chigas. In "Fractured Identities: Cambodia's Children of War," Higgins and Ross follow up with children depicted on the cover of their book "Southeast Asians: A New Beginning in Lowell" to learn about their lives.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Higgins, James
Ross, Joan
Source
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Higgins, James (Jim). Lowell Books Collection
Publisher
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Loom Press
Date
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1997
Rights
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UMass Lowell Library makes this material available for private, educational, and research use. It is the responsibility of the user to secure any needed permissions from rights holders, for uses such as commercial reproductions of copyrighted works. Contact host institution for more information.
Language
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English
Type
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Text
Identifier
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uml7_b01_f02_i001
Coverage
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Lowell, Massachusetts
Format
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68 p.; 21 x 27
1990-1999
Books
Cambodians
Photobooks
Refugee resettlement
-
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PDF Text
Text
A NEW BEGINNING IN LOWELL
BY JAMES HIGGINS & JOAN ROSS
Foreword by Dith Pran Introduction by Hai B. Pho
����Southeast Asians
��Southeast Asians
A NEW BEGINNING IN LOWELL
BY JAMES HIGGINS & JOAN ROSS
PHOTOGRAPHS BY JAMES HIGGINS
Foreword by Dith Pran Introduction by Hai B. Pho
M ILL TOWN GRA PHICS
�Published by:
Mill Town Graphics
P.O. Box 2168
Highlands Station
Lowell, MA 01851
Copyright © 1986 Higgins & Ross
The histories that begin the Cambodian, Laotian, and Vietnamese sections
are excerpted from Peoples and Cultures of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam . Reprinted
with the permission of the Center for Applied Linguistics.
The poem "Yaws" © 1986 George Chigas. Reprinted by permission of the
author.
The Introduction is drawn from a 1983 audio-visual presentation of the Southeast Asian Program, Fitchburg Ethnic Heritage Program Series, sponsored
by the Fitchburg Public Library with Dr. Gunther Hoos, Chairman of the
Communication/Media Department at Fitchburg State College as Director
and Dr. Hai B. Pho as Humanities Scholar.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form
or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and
retrieval systems without the written permission of the publisher except in
the case of brief excerpts for use in critical articles or reviews.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 86-62068
ISBN 0-914613-04-9
Produced in conjunction with the Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association
of Greater Lowell, Inc.
Project Coordination by Carol Keirstead
Book design by Joan Ross
Printed by Mercantile Printing Company
Typeset by Typographix, Inc.
Translation/Calligraphy:
Cambodian by S. Say
Laotian by Sompheth Phothisen
Vietnamese by Tran Kirn Lan
Manufactured in the United States of America
�ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
AUTHORS' NOTE
First and foremost we thank all of those whose words and pictures
appear in this book.
The quotations in this book have been written as accurately as
possible in order to preserve the authenticity of the speakers'
voices. In many cases the English is ungrammatical, however this
in itself is telling - learning a new language is a great challenge.
The captions and quotations are, for the most part, said by or
about the subject photographed. We have not attributed the statements out of respect for the privacy of those who helped us create
this book.
We thank Theresa Theobald and the Cambodian Mutual Assistance
Association of Greater Lowell for the organizational support needed
to produce this book.
Carol Keirstead, project coordinator, has been a valuable link to the
Southeast Asian community, where she is so well respected.
We thank the following people and organizations: Narin Sao, George
and Chanthy Chigas, Heng Bun Chea, Sopheap Kuth, Michael Ben
Ho, Joan Gendron, Leslie Yauckoes and all our friends at the Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association; Silvia Sangiolo, Steve Lewis,
Khamsone Silavong, and the Laotian MAA; and Mr. Ong and Mr.
Gia from the Vietnamese MAA . We also wish to thank the following :
Reverend Steven Stager, Kim Jaynes, and members of the Eliot
Presbyterian Church; Vera Godley and the Lowell Ethnic Covenant;
Lydia Mattei, Kathi and Larry Flynn, and the staff at the International Institute; Frank Dalphond and the Merrimack Valley Vietnam
Veterans Organization; Jim Myers - Site Manager, Nate Kinnon
and Sandy Jolin at Digital, Wilmington, MA; Arthur Robbins and
the Lowell Hilton; Marilyn DeAngelis of Channel 56, Boston; Daniel
Lam from the Office of Refugee Resettlement; Joe Antonuccio,
Thoeun Thou, Evelyn Desmarais, Jim Doyle, Carol Merrian, Brian
Dunigan, Kang Song, and Lan Pho.
We gratefully acknowledge the special editorial support we received
from Paul Marion, Cultural Affairs Director, Lowell Historic Preservation Commission, who even walked our dog when things got crazy.
We appreciate the special advice and assistance we received from
Maude Salinger.
We thank Christine Reynolds for her design help.
A special thanks to our three translators: S.Say, Sompheth Phothisen,
and Tran Kim Lan .
Funding for this project was provided by :
rrrth
in
&P1:-'
M ass:1
chusc1ts Founda tion
for t-lu 1 mi 1ics and
m
Publi c Po lic)'
Massachusetts Foundation for Humanities and Public Policy, New England
Telephone Company, Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities
Heritage Program, the Lowell Historic Preservation Commission - United
States Department of the Interior, and the Massachusetts Arts Lottery Council
as administered by the Lowell Arts Council.
Additional support was provided by the Massachusetts Arts Lottery Council as administered by the Chelmsford Arts Council, Community Teamwork, Inc., St. Jean Baptiste Parish, the Church of St. Michael, the First
Bank, the Commonwealth Federal Savings Bank, the Union National
Bank, the Lowell Institute for Savings, and the Bank of Boston .
The Foreword, Introduction Summary, captions, and quotations
are translated into the languages of the Cambodians, Laotians,
and Vietnamese in order to make the book accessible to the
Southeast Asian community.
This book represents almost two years of work with the Southeast
Asian peoples of Lowell. Our respect for them is great - the
friendships made forever rewarding.
J.H. and J.R.
1965, it seems so long ago ... sitting in high school class,
Beatles music playing in my head, and a knot in my
stomach, wondering if I would be called on for an answer.
While on the other side of the world dark clouds were
gathering, clouds that would soon be heading this way.
Decisions being made at the Gulf of Tonkin by people far
removed from Mr. Hogan , my sleepy history teacher.
J.H.
��FOREWORD
by Dith Pran
The plight of refugees is a universal and historic story.
While trapped inside communist Cambodia for four and
one half years, I vowed that when I reached freedom I
would bring my message to the world. My story, as
shown in the film "The Killing Fields," is not just my
story. It is the story of refugees throughout the world.
The Southeast Asian refugees, most of whom were
forced through hardships of war to come to the U.S.A. ,
are now adjusting to life in a new world . These Cambodian, Laotian, and Vietnamese people have suffered
for years. When the war was over in 1975, an internal
holocaust within the Southeast Asian countries con-.
tinued. The survivors fled their country because they
could not live under the communist regime where
they had little food and no freedom.
With the help of volunteer agencies and religious
organizations, these refugees are being taken care of
and are learning to adapt to the language, customs,
and life in their new world. I applaud the American
people because they have a tradition of helping the
suffering people.
I am now a citizen of the United States and I am
proud to be one. I have a home and a country; I am
no longer stateless. As Goodwill Ambassador to the
United Nations, I will continue to promote peace all
over the world. Please share with me my concern for all
the suffering refugees. I hope that someday the people
around the world would join together in creating a
peaceful global society. I am glad you care.
����INTRODUCTION
by Hai B. Pho
To many Americans whose grandparents first made the long journey to the United
States at the turn of the century, the memories of their hardship, struggle, and often
prejudicial treatment are likely wrapped in a mist of sentiment and nostalgia. Through
hard work, education, and sacrifice, they and their children were often rewarded by
a better life. Today, as part of the remaining legacy of the Vietnam War, another first
generation of immigrants is beginning its upward struggle. Lowell is fortunate to count
these courageous people as part of its cultural mosaic, and this book is an effort, at
least in part, to document the upward struggle of the newest group of immigrants,
the Southeast Asian refugees.
Southeast Asia encompasses the vast mainland area east of India and south of
China including Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam as well
as the two island nations of Indonesia and the Philippines. Historically, it has been
a crossroad of cultural activity. For more than 4000 years China, India, and Polynesia
have influenced the languages, customs, and institutions of the peoples of the area.
To these have been added the European Christian influences during the past 500
years resulting in a great diversity of life-style, culture, and language. The region
abounds in great beauty and cultural riches.
Geographically, Indochina reflects the mainland portion of Southeast Asia comprised
of Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Politically, however,
the name Indochina applies only to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, the countries
which were once known as French Indochina. The history of French Indochina
began in 1893 when the French first proclaimed the Indochinese Union after it had
colonized these three independent states. The Union ended in 1950 when separate
treaties were ratified, recognizing Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos as independent,
self-governing states within the French Union. After the Geneva Conference in 1954
and the dissolution of the French Union, the name Indochina no longer had any
political or constitutional meaning.
Indochina's more than 2000 years of independent existence has been frequently
disrupted by series of border disputes, wars of succession, invasions, and colonizations. Since World War II, after all the great ideologies such as capitalism, communism,
and nationalism had swept across the Asian continent, the Indochinese peoples experienced widespread grassroots struggles for independence from the French and
the ensuing internecine warfare.
Following the decisive loss by the French to Ho Chi Minh's guerrillas at the battle
of Dien Bien Phu in 1954, the Geneva Accords was signed which gave international
recognition of independence and unity to Cambodia and Laos, but divided Vietnam
into two portions with an arbitrary line along the 17th parallel. It also left Ngo Dinh
11
�Diem's South Vietnam in a highly vulnerable position to North Vietnam's battle hardened guerrilla armed forces, the People's Liberation Army. It was after this Geneva
Conference that the United States became directly and more deeply involved in
the region.
Speaking in 1955, at a meeting of the American Friends of Vietnam Association
in New York, Senator John F. Kennedy, then a presidential hopeful for the 1956
election, declared:
Vietnam represents the cornerstone of the free world in Southeast Asia,
the keystone of the arch, the finger in the dike. . . .
Vietnam represents a proving ground of democracy in Asia. . . . Vietnam
represents the alternative to Communist dictatorship. . . . The U.S. is
directly responsible for this experiment. . . . We cannot afford to permit
that experiment to fail . . . .
If we are not the parents of little Vietnam, then surely we are the godparents. We presided at its birth, we gave assistance to its life, we have
helped to shape its future . . .. And if it falls victim to any of the perils
that threaten its existence - Communism, political anarchy, poverty, and
the rest - then the U.S., with some justification, will be held responsible.
So, not willing to allow the North Vietnamese Communists to unify the country
either by political maneuver or by force, President Eisenhower authorized an expansion of U.S. economic and military aid to South Vietnam. The battlefields in South
Vietnam were then defined in Cold War theories and principles. South Vietnamese
people thus became freedom fighters and the 17th parallel became the frontier of
the Free World.
Initially, small teams of U.S. military advisors were sent to Vietnam. At first, they
were limited to a training role which was later changed to field advisors restricted
to a "fire when fired upon" rule. This unrealistic dictum was largely ignored by the
Americans and they took active part in skirmishes against the Communist-led front
in the South known as the National Liberation Movement Front or the Vietcong.
America went to Vietnam scarcely guessing the intricacy and pattern of ensuing
events. The War rapidly escalated shortly after the assassination first of Diem then
of Kennedy in November, 1963, and less than a year later President Johnson committed vast sums of AID money and tens of thousands of draftees into the war. In
the South, a succession of generals failed to unify and mobilize the public will to
defeat the Vietcong and the war dragged on. Like the French, the Americans were
suddenly bogged down in a war that seemed unending. Finally, after tremendous
resistance in America to the continuation and expansion of the war, the new strategy
became Vietnamization. Without defeating the Vietcong, America began to withdraw,
transferring all fighting responsibility to the South Vietnamese.
The failure of the U.S. to live by its commitments to support South Vietnam against
the North during the post-1973 Paris Peace Agreement period subsequently led to
12
�the defeat of the South by the North Vietnamese forces on April 30, 1975. Thus, the
last American presence that many South Vietnamese saw was the U.S. helicopters
leaving the American Embassy in Saigon.
Less than two weeks before the capture of Saigon, Communist forces had seized
control of Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. But after four years of genocidal
ruthlessness by Cambodian Premier Pol Pot, supported by the People's Republic of
China, the Vietnamese Communist Army rolled into Cambodia and engaged the
savage Khmer Rouge. Vietnam ultimately installed Heng Samrin as a new Cambodian Premier. Laos too came under complete control of Vietnam's Communist ally,
the Pathet Lao in December, 1975.
Since the middle of 1975, the great question in Indochina has not been freedom,
but survival for those who hadn't given their loyalty to the Communist forces. Thus,
after the Communist takeover more than 1.5 million people had escaped the new
Regimes and started a search for a new beginning. Some fled for fear of reprisal. Some
were pushed out because they were dissidents. Some, like the ethnic Chinese, were
forcefully evacuated. And some left in search of freedom.
The Vietnamese exodus took place in three phases. The first came after the fall
of the Saigon government in April, 1975. In only three months over 130,000 Vietnamese
refugees entered the United States. Vietnamese who had worked for the U.S. government as well as members of their families were evacuated along with the officials of
the South Vietnamese government. Phase two refugees left Vietnam for a number of
reasons including the steady nationalization of the private sector, the erosion of personal freedom, and the establishment of reeducation camps, actually, concentration
camps. When registration for these camps began, many took small crafts that were
readily available and headed for ports in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore. Of all who left by boat during this time, more than half never made it to their
destination. The Vietnamese dead may total 400,000. The phase three exodus began
in 1978. This phase was characterized by the forcible eviction of Vietnam's ethnic
Chinese population. No transportation was provided and they too were forced to
leave on any available vessel. A conservative estimate was that between 30,000 and
50,000 persons drowned each month from May to July, 1979.
In 1975 the Communist Pathet Lao took total control over the Laotian government.
This also caused a massive exodus of many anticommunist Laotians as well as the
Hmong people of Laos. The Hmong had worked closely for 15 years with the U.S.
military and were involved in the effort to rescue U.S. pilots who were shot down
over North Vietnam. During their 20 to 25 days walk from the hills of Laos to
Thailand, many Hmong were assaulted, abused, or killed. They slipped over the
Mekong at night aboard logs, make-shift rafts, or even lengths of bamboo underneath their arms to make a break for freedom. Once the survivors made it across
the river to Thailand, many were placed into jails and ultimately into Thai camps.
When Pol Pot ruled Cambodia, only a trickle of refugees escaped across the
Thai border with unbelievable tales of horror. It was after the defeat of the Khmer
13
�Rouge by the invading Vietnamese forces that a flood of Cambodians spilled into
Thailand. While a complete story of this modern day genocide may never be told,
it was estimated that over three million, or nearly half of the Cambodian population, died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. Anyone found to have some association with the West was summarily executed. The urban population, including the
old and the sick in hospitals, was forced to march to communal labor camps in
remote jungle bases. Infractions of the harsh, inhuman rules were punishable by
death. Food shortage was rampant and, in the fall of 1978, famine threatened the
survival of the entire country. The plight of the Cambodians attracted worldwide
attention.
The Indochinese refugee situation became a major international issue in 1979.
Countries of first asylum sometimes refused to accept anymore refugees. International resettlement efforts were slow and bound up in red tape as well as politics.
The July, 1979 Geneva Refugee Conference acknowledged an important principle.
Refugee assistance should be considered an international responsibility. As a result
of this conference, resettlements were doubled. Another development at Geneva
was the Philippine Government's offer to provide a site for a facility which would
serve as a refugee processing center. The U.S. strongly supported the establishment
of such a site as a means of relieving the pressure on the countries of first- asylum
and thereby encouraged them to continue to accept all new arrivals. From these camps
of first asylum in Thailand, Malaysia, and Hong Kong, the refugees were eventually
processed and resettled in many parts of the world including the U.S.
Many regulations had been written to facilitate the resettlement of Indochinese
refugees into the U.S., however, it was the enactment of the Refugee Act of 1980
which helped to speed up the resettlement of Indochinese refugees throughout the
United States. This law which defined a refugee as any person who is unable or
unwilling to return to his/her country ''because of persecution or a well-founded
fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion," established the Federal Office of Refugee
Resettlement and enabled the government to raise more funds for refugee reception and placement, cash and medical assistance, and language skills training as
well as employment services. Refugee resettlement also increased in Massachusetts
as a result of the Dukakis Administration's leadership with prominent citizens
advocating for speedier family reunifications and less restrictive regulations for
persecuted Cambodian applicants. The Refugee State Plan was extensively revised
to facilitate access to state programs and services by refugees with linguistic and
cultural barriers. Supplemental funds were appropriated by the State Legislature
to assist cities and towns which received a high number of new immigrants and
refugees.
Nationwide, the refugee resettlement program was carried out by eleven U.S. volunteer agencies including among others the American Council for Nationalities Service,
the American Fund For Czechoslovak Refugees, the Buddhist Council for Refugee
14
�Rescue and Resettlement, and the U.S. Catholic Conference. These agencies, under contract to the government, work to find individual or group sponsors who can assume
responsibility for the refugee family. It was through such sponsorship that refugees
from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos found their way to Lowell. The sponsors, sometimes organized through churches and sometimes by the agencies themselves, played
an important role for the new residents. Initially, they provided food, shelter, and
clothing for the arriving family. Later, they assisted in finding employment, enrolling the children in schools, and helping the immigrants to understand and cope
with the American customs. Through informal sponsorship duties, the sponsors
often became close friends of the families and provided much needed personal
support and encouragement during difficult times.
In Lowell, the Indochinese refugees were mostly received and placed by the American Fund for Czechoslovak Refugees and the American Council for Nationalities
Service. They were also helped to resettle by local churches as well as the Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association (MAA), the Laotian MAA, the Vietnamese MAA,
and the International Institute of Lowell. These organizations are active in finding
sponsors for new refugees as well as in providing job development and language
training. Agency people continue to assist the new immigrants in their adjustment
to life in the new country.
In some ways, particularly with sponsorship and the state and federal governments
taking a pro-active role, it is now easier for the new immigrants to assimilate into
the American way of life especially when compared to the settlers at the turn of the
century. Some problems, however, have not changed, such as the need to acquire the
English language so that economic opportunities may be realized, the difficulty of
finding employment during hard economic times, and of course, the problems of prejudice and suspicion. But as other immigrant groups before them, the Indochinese
are ambitious, hard working, and greatly value education. These characteristics have
been and continue to be the classic ingredients of American upward mobility. The
earliest Indochinese refugees settled in Lowell only ten years ago. But many have
already succeeded in improving their own economic situations. Families have become
home-owners and have acquired other material goods. The high schools are regularly
graduating sons and daughters of Indochinese immigrants. Some are now enrolled
in colleges. Others are already working as technicians and engineers in high tech industries. And of course, most members of the Indochinese community are looking
forward to receiving American citizenship papers. Although assimilation into American ways is important, the Indochinese immigrants greatly value their cultural traditions
and keep them alive during celebrations and festivals throughout the year.
The first generation of Indochinese refugees can never forget the horror of war
and persecution that expelled them from their own countries or the Americans
who welcomed them and brought them here. But like other ethnic groups before
them, they are busy preparing a secure and stable future for themselves and for
their children in a new land.
15
�16
�17
�Gulf of
Thailand
KEY
INDOCHINA
~ Refugee
Escape Routes
I Refugee Camps
�The recorded history of Cambodia dates back to the first
century A.O., when it was known as Funan (100-500 A.O.).
This was followed by the Angkor period which lasted until
1432. It was a period of great accomplishments in culture,
arts and architecture. At its peak, the empire extended from
the Annamite Chain in present-day southern Vietnam to the
Gulf of Thailand . The temples at Angkor were erected during this period, which has been described as the height of
Cambodian domination in Southeast Asia.
At the end of the 13th century, the empire disintegrated
into small kingdoms often ruled by Thai vassals. The struggle
for territory between the Thais, Cambodians and Vietnamese
has continued to the present . Cambodia became a French
protectorate in 1864, and achieved complete independence
under the leadership of Prince Norodom Sihanouk after the
1954 Geneva Conference.
In 1970, Sihanouk was overthrown by his Prime Minister,
General Lon-Nol. That same year, Cambodia was the target
of attacks from the spreading war in Vietnam. This spurred
the growth of the Khmer communist faction (Khmer Rouge),
which gained control of the country in 1975, under the
leadership of Pol Pot. In 1979, the Vietnamese communists
overran and occupied Cambodia, installing a government
headed by Heng Samrin. The Vietnamese communist occupation, along with the Pol Pot generated holocaust, caused
an increasing number of Khmer people to flee their homeland
and become refugees in Thailand. Some 8,000 Cambodians
who are here today in Lowell, are victims of this continuing
war and turmoil .
19
Cambodians
�Most Cambodian refugees wait
in the camps (holding centers)
in Thailand for one to five years
while arrangements are made
for their resettlement . Language
instruction and cultural orientation are then received at a processing center before leaving for
the United States. The Mom
family waited in the camps for
six years before they could leave.
After a twenty-five hour flight
from Bangkok, they arrived in
Boston where Ing Mom ' s sister
and niece (on left) were there
to meet them .
20
�21
�A newly arrived refugee family is
given a demonstration of a hair
dryer found in a donated box of
clothes and small appliances .
22
�23
�Keo Saray' s parents are still in a
camp on the Thai-Khmer border.
They are not recognized as refugees by the Thai government
or the U.S. government. They
are considered '' displaced persons." Their only choices are to
go back to communist Cambodia
or wait in the camp with the
hope that someday their status
will change .
24
�25
�Poeun is forty-two years old.
She's had ten babies but now
there are six - four of them
died during the Khmer Rouge
regime.
"In Cambodia there are lots
of trees - hammocks are very
common. It's so easy to 'string
it and swing it. ' "
26
�27
�"Last night I heard a tape with
the songs of my country. In my
mind I went back to my grandparents' farm where I walked
through fields of coconut and
orange trees and ate fresh pineapple. I felt like there's no place
like home ."
28
�29
�Bun Vong and a friend were driving on the Revere Beach Parkway
when they became involved in
a traffic dispute with another
vehicle . A fight started and Bun
Vong was knocked unconscious .
He died of brain damage eleven
days later. In the second of two
trials, one of his assailants was
convicted of manslaughter.
The press converged on Bun
Yong's widow as she left the
funeral home . There was a barrage of questions and then an
awkward silence as she began
to cry . . . the only other sounds
coming from the click and whirl
of cameras .
30
�31
��33
�Rom was a village leader in
Cambodia . When he started ESL
(English as a Second Language)
classes, he had a strong motivation to learn . He entered the
clerical program but became frustrated with the level of language
skills required . He would say,
" I can 't keep it in my head - my
brain is too old." After transferring to the electrical program
that offered more hands-on skills,
Rom made good progress.
" When I go to look for a job,
maybe I will bring this to show
and say to them 'this is my
certificate. ' "
34
�35
�Division of Employment Security
" When I tell them a job is
available they ask if any other
Cambodians work there. If I
say no, then they don't want
to go. If their own people are
working there they feel comfortable . They are away from
their own country and things
seem strange here ."
36
�37
�The Moore Street School opened
in January, 1986, to house the
rapidly increasing population of
Cambodian students. The school,
segregated until June, 1986, is an
example of the emergency conditions facing public institutions
that deal with the Southeast
Asian refugees .
38
�39
�"12 Sisters" is a Cambodian folk
story that has been handed down
from generation to generation
and carried to Lowell by the
refugees . The film was shown
at St. Patrick's Church with a
translator for the English speaking viewers .
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40
c1,c,1; ck
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�41
�" Under communist regime we
lost more than three million
people. We lost everything all of our culture which took
more than 1000 years to build,
and all of our trust for each
other. We only trusted the
Buddhist monk. Only the Buddhist religion can rebuild our
culture."
42
�43
�The day came for celebrating
the opening of the new Trairatanaram Temple, which had once
been a Knights of Columbus
Hall. Everyone dressed up everyone 's spirits soared. The
next day they found out that it
was illegal for Venerable Khon
Sao to stay there without an
occupancy permit. After contributing much time and hard
earned money, the permit was
finally granted .
"In Cambodia if you want to
build a house or a temple and
live there, you go out and cut
away some bamboo, drag it to
where you want to build it, and
move in."
44
�45
�"An American man come two
times to our house and ask me
if he can have my son to be his
son. He say he will give him
everything he need and send
him to college. I have one son
- I don' t give to somebody. I'm
his mother - he 's a good boy
and I love him too."
46
�47
�Many Southeast Asians became
Christians in the refugee camps
where there were missionary
nurses and workers . When we
asked Cheth if we could photograph his family with its newest
son, he wanted to make sure
that his pastor was included in
the photograph .
48
�49
�50
�51
�Formal education in Cambodia
stopped under Pol Pot's regime.
At thirty years old, Salay is
graduating from high school.
"I' m not really proud yet until
the next diploma - then I'm
born again . When I finish with
college, if God wants me to, I
would like to be a missionary .
That's why I try so hard to study.
I want to go back to help my
people - if not my people then
others who need help ."
52
�53
�" The main reason I buy a house
is so I can be independent. Now
we can welcome everyone here
without having complaints from
a landlord . My father-in-law ' s
friends live here too because
they have nowhere to go . We
all live together; it's Cambodian
custom to receive anyone that
needs a home ."
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• 'DO C\!I) Cl!
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F>IJ, J.JJ...} U..UJ.J"l,:J.JUlr>>"c:)J...J2.~
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54
�55
�'When we fight in the Cambodian Army we believe the more
tattoos on the body, the more
protection in the war:'
56
�57
�L.<-
"My grandmother says 'if my
country is free, I want to go
back,' but we like it here . Even
if it's free, I don ' t think I go
back - I stay here ."
,
I,..,
t,..
_ ...
'
cc. ....
rr.vc'>UJt&u,:n::n ,z,r./:,cno
p...
~
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v (:i\_ C'\., ')')
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_.
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58
>>
�59
�I
Mother and child at home in
the U.S.A .
r Q..'Q._ ()
<f.JJ rr;;,~ -;:)>'HJ ,n r:seu1u t.fs r~:::I:.
tnt::x> ~= ,_!}~,n .
60
-1-iu· ~
· u
h
tvJ·
{;,(Jh
O L ?tk-
�61
�Phalik performs traditional Cambodian dances - her brother likes
the "moon walk" better.
~/<._--&,~~
ot;~
Vc,/-f¼ ::J~ f{lc,~
u/4 Wl? -~ -~
Gm fw• 'c ;
'
I
·
~~
~ '' /vu;oh Sa.f.):_ ' MIL-_
1
62
�63
�mJ.J~:r~.u.d=~~C;jq~'-:Jr.,
Cambodian New Year Celebration
t. • .ui..J
64
.
�65
�The first wedding of an American
man and Cambodian woman
in Lowell.
"The priest gives the couple a
haircut as a symbol of cleanliness. The locks of hair will be
mixed in a bowl to symbolize
the sharing of the bride and
groom. The monks advise them
to use the plural, not singular,
when speaking in the house .
They should say we instead
of I."
66
�67
�YAWS*
A scratch was doom
if their village had it.
Without penicilin
it could hide in blood forever
burning holes through skin that won't close.
She said her mother put leaves on infected sores
to draw the tiny worms started by flies
far enough out to get at with toothpicks.
My experience doesn't even begin to touch this.
The closest it ever came
was the summer I got poison ivy
chipping out of rough to save par.
And when I ask her, she'll just shrug it off.
To her it's just something terrible that happened.
We even laugh when she tilts back on her heels
with fingers and toes spread
to show how they walked.
*A tropical condition caused by a bacteria, characterized by skin
lesions on faces, palms of hands and soles of feet .
68
�69
�The Lao people moved from the Yunnan area of China and
settled in the northern part of Laos in 658 A.O., eventually
spreading throughout the present-day areas of Laos and
Thailand . Many wars were fought among clans to gain domination. There were three major kingdoms in Laos by 1707. By
1779, the kingdoms were colonized by the King of Thailand.
Many unsuccessful attempts by the Lao to free themselves
from Thai domination followed . In 1893, France took control of Indochina and pressured the King of Thailand into
relinquishing some of the Lao territory. A treaty was signed
in 1907 dividing the Lao people into two nations, one under
French control, the other under Thai.
During World War II, Japan conquered Laos, pushing the
French out of the country. Its rule was short-lived, however,
and France regained control in 1946. This resulted in many
Lao leaders fleeing to Thailand to create a "Free Movement."
The Movement was successful in 1949, when Laos was given
greater independence by France, and many members of the
"Free Movement" returned to Laos and participated in the
70
�formation of the new government. Others, however, remained
in Thailand and founded a movement known as the "Pathet
Lao," led by Prince Souphanouvong. The Pathet Lao was
headquartered in northeastern Laos.
Subsequent years saw continuous power struggles between
various factions for control of the government. During this
time, in 1954, Laos achieved full independence. The power
struggles continued, and Prince Souphanouvong was arrested.
He later escaped to the jungle to join the Pathet Lao. A coalition government was formed in 1962, under the leadership
of Souvanna Phouma, to demonstrate solidarity. This government received aid from the United States. This support was
phased out, however, in 1973, when another coalition
government - between the communist Pathet Lao and the
Royal Lao Government - was being created. Communist
control was total by December 1975. The current exodus of
refugees from Laos began at that time, as those who resisted
communist control escaped the country. Some 2,000 Laotians
are here in Lowell today.
71
Laotians ·
�"There are several things that
bind all Southeast Asians: the
suffering they have experienced,
religion, and good food . When
Chanthip and I opened the restaurant we wanted to make sure
that the food was authentic . That
meant not worrying about the
Americans and what they would
think of the smells or the taste
of the food . We wanted to have
a congregating place for the
Asians - something that they
could call their own. "
......,
,
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:'
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72
--,"")
�73
�Somdeth has been in this country for less than two years. He
escaped from Laos by swimming
across the Mekong river at night
with a plastic bag he filled with
air to help keep him afloat. His
seven brothers and sisters and
parents remain in Laos .
"When I came to Lowell I went
to Adult Education classes for
ESL, and then to a special banking program at the Vocational
School. I feel very lucky to have
my job at the bank. The people
who come here always ask how
to pronounce my last name . They
want to know why I came over
here, but I have a hard time to
explain ."
74
�75
�0 Q
I
"':!JY,.,,2:!)1,'0 :::))-.>/U.JJI..J.
A Lao/Cambodian wedding .
WV)
Neither bride nor groom speaks
the other' s language, although
they both speak a little English .
The bride's relative says " they
need an interpreter by day, but
not by night. "
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76
0
c.l,:nt.c.1,.e,~JJ9:1'? ''7)".UJ..J
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�"When I dance I feel like a thousand eyes are looking at me."
77
�'When we get to America my
sons grow faster. It's sports and
American food that make them
grow tall. They don't like Lao
food - they like McDonald's
and Papa Gino's and they
drink lots of Pepsi:'
78
�79
�80
�81
�, ft.i' l<f_ d,·o/ilM
IU/W) c1-u; ~ I :6-t; Il{_ (._
v~ do-,-:6 ~~
fedi Ouw-c Lao cf-e ... ~
~t)rf_ t1J ~ ~
~
Centuries of migration caused
the hill tribes of Northern Laos
to create a portable art. For
hundreds of years textile designs
have been passed down from
mother to daughter . This Hmong
tapestry, made in a refugee
camp, is an example of Pa'ndau
which means "Flower Cloth ."
C..0 /
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,&_- _,
82
Va-<
fka._. .,
u:
�83
�0.
0.,..
The Pink and The Purple
f):JJ:::Si_,JJb
"We know the Lao music but we
like American better - it's the
beat I guess. We like groups like
Kiss, Dokken, Keel, and Motley
Criie. Right now we just play for
fun, but you never know . . . . "
H;::)~
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84
�85
�"My parents have a lot of kids,
they can't raise them all so we
have to separate and go to live
with different relatives. That way
we can have something to eat
growing up and we can go to
school instead of work in the
fields. I don' t know exactly
how many brothers and sisters
I have . When I was seventeen
I try to track them down and
I found two or three of them .
Then after sixteen years away
I meet my real mother again.
She cries and tells me she feels
very, very sorry but that it was
the best thing she could do .
When I come to this country my
sister try to help me out so she
wants one of my twins for her
own . I tell her I want to raise
all my kids. I don't want them
to separate. I want every kid
with me no matter where I go ."
86
�87
�"When my son was three he
got poison from lead paint and
took a lot of medicine . I move
to another apartment but now
I patch up all the holes in the
wall because I'm afraid for his
sister."
88
�89
�"We all share the bathroom.
There is no electricity - if we
close the door we can't see. "
90
�91
�"I leave my first job at 2 p .m.
and get home and pick up my
son from school. I feed my son
and daughter and when my wife
gets home from work, I leave
for my second job . Many times
I work overtime on Saturdays .
On Sundays we usually do the
shopping. "
92
�93
�" I have lots of problems here
- broken windows, the ceiling
broken down, toilet and sink
that don't work. Every time I
have a problem I call the landlord but nobody ever come. I
need a better place for her."
94
�95
�~1-'·a- Nj
'"t>"la;,
'1n Laos, the elderly spend their
time in the yard . The yard is
not grass but a large vegetable
garden that provides food for
the famil y. Now, she lives on
the third floor of a tenement
building. Below is a parking
lot. She speaks no English,
there is nowhere to go."
nef /JA,U ca/ ~a:_
ck'-cd
M-ue
Vdoh..
d:ii c//.,c, 'fr'e<-
c/40,. . ¾ J'?,- /!:a-~
~ f-ih Jdj -t/l._,J' '3 0,,,i'aw~.eu') j-.w"ci ' Mt
~- ~ alfk ;c-e-. .3a rtwy
~~
~- cf~~
~~
Offd;/, JJ
1.-
96
-h~i
,1,,.1._ vd
eo' c.A.o~ ),ac, ah.'-
�97
��99
�"Now that I'm a United States
citizen I feel more confident living
here . I feel different. Not only
my appearance is different, I feel
different inside. . . being one of
the people in this big country."
100
�101
�The ethnic Vietnamese are believed to be mainly descendants
of a Mongoloid race who spread southward through the
Red River delta. The Chinese conquered the area in the second century, B.C., and ruled for a thousand years.
After many revolts against China were attempted and failed
during that long period of domination, the Vietnamese finally
succeeded in regaining independence and founded the first
national dynasty in 938 A.O. Subsequent invasions from the
north were repelled, including the major one by the powerful Mongols in the late 13th century. In the 15th century,
China tried again to re-establish its rule but was defeated
by the Le dynasty after ten years of war.
Vietnam's sovereignty ended with the advent of French colonization which was achieved in 1883 and lasted for about
60 years. In 1940, the Japanese entered Vietnam with the
consent of the Vichy government. In March 1945, Japan overthrew the French authorities and granted independence to
Vietnam under Emperor Bao Dai, the last ruler of the Nguyen
dynasty. In August 1945, only a few days after Japan surrendered to the Allies, Bao Dai handed over the imperial seal to
Ho Chi Minh, who declared independence that September.
Negotiations with the French to implement this independence
102
failed, and the French-Indochina war began. It ended in 1954
at the battle of Dien Bien Phu, after eight years of enormous
casualties. The 1954 Geneva Accord divided Vietnam at the
17th parallel, placing the North under Ho Chi Minh and the
South under ex-Experor Bao Dai, now Chief of State, who
later lost control to his prime minister, Ngo Dinh Diem, in
a referendum.
After a few years of relative peace, the early 1960's were
marked by a steadily increasing penetration of South Vietnam
by Vietnamese communist guerrillas known as the Viet Cong.
Beginning in early 1965, the pace of the war accelerated
sharply. From being largely supportive and advisory, the
United States role increasingly became one of active combat,
with U.S. troops engaging in operations designed to search
out and destroy the guerrillas. During this period, the internal political situation in South Vietnam was in turmoil. After
the coup d'etat in November 1963, during which President
Ngo Dinh Diem was killed, rule was taken over by successive
military regimes. Corruption was a constant problem, and
the political unrest fueled Viet Cong efforts. Finally after
persistent peace talks and negotiations, a Peace Agreement
was signed in Paris on January 27, 1973.
�The Peace Agreement was intended to bring about a ceasefire throughout the country, the beginning of negotiations
between the two Vietnams toward a political settlement, and
the withdrawal of foreign military forces. All U.S. forces were
withdrawn within the stipulated 60-day period . While South
Vietnam lost the vital support of the United States and had
too little time to consolidate its own strength, North Vietnam
continued a massive infiltration of troops and military supplies.
As a result, the defense system in the South rapidly disintegrated, and Saigon finally fell into communist hands on
April 30, 1975, causing a massive and chaotic evacuation of
at least 130,000 people in only a few days.
The pacification, the unification, and the enactment of
economic and political policies by the victorious communist
authorities in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos produced a
continuous stream of refugees to the first asylum countries
of Thailand, Malaysia, the Peoples Republic of China, Hong
Kong, and the Philippines. By the end of January, 1986 nearly
1.7 million people had fled their homelands. Of these, 781,000
have been resettled in the United States, 728,000 in other countries, and over 154,000 are still languishing in refugee camps.
As a result of the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Policy some
1,000 Vietnamese refugees have resettled in the Lowell area.
103
Vietnamese
�"Before my husband died he left
a portrait of himself dressed in
his traditional mandarin robe
and seated in the ceremonial
position. I am 88 years old now
and must prepare to die. I have
nothing to leave behind but this
portrait of me properly seated so
that after I am dead, it will be
placed on the family altar, next
to my husband's portrait for all
my children to remember us."
104
�105
�"' [} '-u"r-i/..
'1 work on a TV station in Vietnam singing and dancing. My
husband was a conductor in the
army and write patriotic songs.
When Saigon fell in 1975 he
have to escape. One day I'm
home cooking and I say 'Oh
my God, my husband not come
home.' We don't think we meet
again, but three years later I
receive a letter that he is safe in
America . We make a plan for
me to escape when my daughters are older. When I get to
Thailand they take everything I
have, my clothes . . . everything.
Some girls they grab and rape.
Thank God my daughters were
only five and six. It's terrible in
the camps. After five years we
meet in America . Now we have
two more kids. We live for our
kids - they must grow up right."
N{Av._
~ /4;;.._
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106
\, _(~ UL,~
�107
�IN
Khanhnguyen's brother and
sister escaped from Vietnam by
boat in 1979. Three years later,
resettlement in the United States
was arranged for Khanhnguyen
and his parents. Khanhnguyen
is now enrolled in the College
of Music at the University of
Lowell.
Uv,·
v-4.-
UUI.~
d<J..,uJ, ~ ~
3
A-Ao, //,£1 -N:vm
h o '1,_,
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~/rt
Jeu,,._ :J:..A_cu,J, I ~
V£tciJ:l ?Yee 4USc.,Aff
fef d 1 w -Jai. Mj'
h4
//-,0? ~ ~ ,{ 7::;entC..eo ~ c ~ ~ c
~ ~ ~ Lo we!/
d ~ k
d~
"When I first came to the University, I was very lonely and
depressed . It wasn 't easy for
me to make friends . The first
time I was to perform before
the school, I walked onto the
stage and back off again. I failed
because I was too nervous, I
could not cope." A month later
Khanhnguyen performed before
the school with his own improvised work . He received three
standing ovations.
;l-0;
.-a.ec,
~ ~
Ail CB c/oJ,J
-6-a~- C1,,;;;;,.
fo;
Vt,- +u},,;.__
/(l,,.,o 1 U-o-fo';
rltWJ ~ ({ ~ . ~
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d~ a'- Tw.1:t~ ... -lvi .teJx_
/,_a_
~ ~
,,(~
rua .
+ib'-" vao •/151 ~
!ITT ~J IN,~ c-fr,, ~
Jill'. "
108
~
-
�109
�Six days a week Dr. Tran drives
from his home in Connecticut
to his office in Lowell. He never
knows how many patients will
be waiting because appointments are not necessary.
"It's like a walk-in clinic here
- the people are used to it
that way. Back home they don't
make appointments because
people don't have telephones.
They like to keep it the same
way here."
110
�111
�"I believe nobody should work
for the first seven days of Tet
because it will bring bad luck
and hard life for the rest of the
year. I must prepare all these
special dishes in advance so
that at New Year all this food
will be offered to my Creator,
to the souls of the family ancestors who are expected to visit
us, and to all my children and
grandchildren who must come
to visit me and wish me a happy
long life."
112
�113
�Vietnamese New Year (TET)
'' All other activities come to
a halt, every sorrow set aside
before midnight of New Year's
Eve. This is a time when some
people shoot firecrackers to welcome the New Year and others
quietly pray at pagodas and
temples ."
114
�115
��117
�International Beauty Salon
" Asian hair is very straight and
strong. The men love to have
their hair permed - they can
do more with it. They don ' t go
to American shops because many
cannot speak English . Besides
Vietnamese, I speak Lao and a
little Cambodian. They are so
happy that I can speak their
language . "
118
�119
�Job interviews in this country
can sometimes be difficult for
Asians. Their interviewing
skills come from a culture less
aggressive than our own. Phu's
American friends helped prepare
her to be interviewed for an
engineering position.
"After my interview at Digital,
I think I better wait for this job .
The people are friendly and
always help each other. At work
I'm very Americanized but I
don't lose my tradition . Within
the family I'm very Vietnamese."
120
�121
�John at home with fiancee.
In July, 1979, John and his older
brother escaped from Vietnam on
a twenty foot fishing boat. Late
at night, sixty-five men, women,
and children met on the shore
and swam one mile to the boat.
The younger children were
pushed on floats . Each person
paid the boat owner one bar of
gold . After seven days and nights
in rough waters, without food ,
they landed in the Philippines .
" After we buried one boy at
sea who died from starvation, I
wished that the boat would capsize so that I would die. . . then
I wouldn't have to be so afraid ."
t /.,<>l.
122
I
'I
~
/J - \.
0P--< - ··
;,>
�123
�"Look at him - see what a terrible life he' s had . He was a
major in the Saigon Army . Look
at him now ... I don' t believe
this ."
124
�125
�Memorial Day Parade
" These guys are our allies . We
fought side by side with them.
I said to myself - who' s more
of a Vietnam Veteran than the
Vietnamese?"
126
�127
�''When I was in the refugee
camps I light a candle in a bowl
and turn it upside down so the
smoke go on the inside of the
bowl. Then I use the black smoke
on the brush to paint. I did this
painting after I get to this country. It' s about the boat people
from my country who would
rather die on the sea than live
under communistic atheism. "
128
�129
�The Catholic Church has been a
source of friendship and support
for the Southeast Asian refugees ... and sometimes vice versa .
"I won' t need to look in the
mirror to see if the cut' s a good
one. If it's done out of love,
it' s good ."
130
�131
��JAMES HIGGINS and JOAN ROSS work as a
photo/design team on documentary, editorial, and
architectural projects. Their first book Lowell - A
Contemporary View, has been distributed both regionally and nationally. They are currently working on
a book documenting the cultural aspects of Ulster
and the Republic of Ireland. They make their
home, with three children, in North Chelmsford,
Massachusetts.
HAI B. PHO, Ph.D. , Project Humanities Scholar,
is an associate professor of Political Science at the
University of Lowell. He is a member of the Board
of Directors for the Indochinese Refugees Foundation and serves as a Co-chair on the Governor's
Advisory Council for Refugee Resettlement.
CAROL KEIRSTEAD, Project Coordinator, works
as the curriculum coordinator for the Southeast
Asian Bilingual Program in the Lowell Public
Schools. Ms. Keirstead holds a Master's degree
in Administration, Planning, and Policy and has
worked as an advocate for Southeast Asian
refugees in Lowell for over five years.
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Higgins, James (Jim). Lowell Books Collection, 1983-1997
Description
An account of the resource
The James Higgins book collection includes 2 copies each of 3 books related to Lowell and the Lowell area Cambodian and larger Southeast Asian communities. <br /><br />The collection is completely accessible on this site. <br /><br />View the collection finding aid for more information, <a href="https://libguides.uml.edu/uml7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://libguides.uml.edu/uml7</a>.<br /><br />-------------------- <br />SEADA would like to thank the following individuals for their work in making this collection available online: Monita Chea, Julia Huynh, and Chornai Pech.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Higgins, James (Jim). Lowell Books Collection, 1983-1997. UML 7. Center for Lowell History, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA.
Relation
A related resource
The collection finding aid, <a href="https://libguides.uml.edu/uml7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://libguides.uml.edu/uml7</a>.
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Southeast Asians: A New Beginning in Lowell photobook, 1986
Subject
The topic of the resource
Refugees--Southeast Asia
Cambodian Americans
Laotian Americans
Vietnamese Americans
Black-and-white photography
Description
An account of the resource
A photography book designed and created by James Higgins and Joan Ross with a foreword written by Dith Pran and and introduction by Hai B. Pho. "Southeast Asians: A New Beginning in Lowell" highlights some members of the Cambodian, Laotian and Vietnamese community in Lowell, Massachussetts. Some photographs are accompanied by text translated into English, Khmer, Lao and Vietnamese.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Higgins, James
Ross, Joan
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Higgins, James (Jim). Lowell Books Collection
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Mill Town Graphics
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1986
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
UMass Lowell Library makes this material available for private, educational, and research use. It is the responsibility of the user to secure any needed permissions from rightsholders, for uses such as commercial reproductions of copyrighted works. Contact host institution for more information.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
140p.; 10.5 x 10.5
Language
A language of the resource
English
Khmer
Lao
Vietnamese
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
uml7_b01_f01_i001
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Lowell, Massachusetts
1980-1989
Books
Cambodians
Laotians
Photobooks
Refugee resettlement
Vietnamese